Water conservancy expert: China’s floods are caused by man-made
[Epoch Times, July 22, 2021](Interviews by Epoch Times reporters Xu Yiyang and Luo Ya) The Zhengzhou government of Henan Province announced three years ago that it would invest more than 50 billion yuan to build a “breathing sponge city.” For the heavy rainfall since July 17, the “sponge” did not help at all, and the city was flooded in just 4 hours. Water conservancy experts said that the Zhengzhou flood was caused by flood discharge from the reservoir. Zhengzhou’s internal documents exposed on the Internet showed that flood discharge had begun before the order was issued.
Since July 17, Henan Province has experienced torrential rains and heavy rains, and some areas have experienced extremely heavy rains. From 18:00 on July 18 to 0:00 on the 21st, Zhengzhou City experienced a rare and continuous heavy precipitation weather process, and the whole city saw heavy rains and extremely heavy rains.
According to the official Weibo of Zhengzhou Meteorology, the city’s 3-day rainfall reached 617.1 mm, of which hourly rainfall and single-day rainfall exceeded the 60-year historical record since the establishment of the Zhengzhou station in 1951. The average annual rainfall in Zhengzhou is 640.8mm, which is equivalent to the rainfall of the previous year in these 3 days.
Due to continuous heavy rainfall, Zhengzhou City’s Changzhuang Reservoir, Guojiazui Reservoir and Jialu River were in danger. Zhengzhou urban area experienced serious waterlogging. Zhengzhou’s railway, highway and civil aviation traffic were severely affected, causing casualties.
What is even more frightening is that floods also poured into the subway and into the carriages, causing the entire Zhengzhou subway line to stop operating. A rescued passenger recalled the thrilling scene, saying that the water had reached his shoulders, the current was very rapid, and the momentum was great. Seeing someone around him was washed away, he almost gave up.
A video posted by Radio Free Asia on Twitter shows that Zhengzhou City has become a country of Zee within 4 hours. At 13:40 on July 20, although the rain in Zhengzhou was heavy and there was water on the road, the vehicles were still able to drive normally; at 14:20, the water had covered most of the wheels of private cars or buses, but the vehicles were still Can drive; at 15:20, all private cars and buses were soaked in the water and could not move, and the flood began to fill the underground driveway; at 17:30, the underground driveway was filled with flooding, the water level and the road surface were level, and the guardrail was almost submerged. Zhengzhou The whole city was submerged in the ocean.
According to Zhengzhou’s official Weibo on the 21st, 12 people were killed and 5 injured in Zhengzhou. But on the 22nd, the Chinese Communist Party media Xinhuanet raised the death toll to 33, and 8 people were missing. But people generally believe that the actual death toll is much higher.
Zhengzhou citizen Zhao Ming (pseudonym) revealed to the Epoch Times reporter on July 21: “My colleague said that yesterday (July 20) it is possible that one or two hundred people died, and not only 15 people died in the carriage.”
Twitter netizen “Jacob” also said: “As long as the media is controllable, the death toll is basically controllable…”
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Zhengzhou’s flood is more like the result of flood discharge from a reservoir
At 1 a.m. on July 21, “Zhengzhou Release” posted a message on Sina Weibo that the situation in Zhengzhou Changzhuang Reservoir was critical due to the large amount of water coming upstream due to heavy rainfall.
According to the news, at 10:30 am on July 20, Changzhuang Reservoir began to discharge flood downstream. As of 21:34 on the 20th, the real-time water level of the Changzhuang Reservoir had fallen by 70 cm from the highest water level of the day. The back slope of the reservoir was also found to have pipes emerging. As of 1 a.m. on the 21st, “the water level of the Changzhuang Reservoir continued to drop, and the dam danger has been initially controlled.”
However, the Chinese Communist Party’s official media “People’s Daily” published a message on Sina Weibo at 22:30 on July 20 that the flood control and drought relief headquarters of Zhongmou County, Zhengzhou, Henan Province issued a notice that the upstream Changzhuang Reservoir will be in danger on July 20. Flood discharge later. The official announcement was compared with the news published by netizens. The official announcement was made 12 hours after the flood was released.
An online exposure of the Zhengzhou City Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters issued an “internal bright electricity” content also showed that on July 20, the Changzhuang Reservoir dam’s back slope was in danger of piping at an elevation of 125, and the reservoir was releasing floods in an emergency. In order to ensure the safety of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, the Suohe Retreat Sluice also began to discharge floods with a large flow rate of more than 100 cubic meters per second.
The internal Mingdian signed the date of July 20, but did not specify the specific time.
Zhengzhou citizen Mr. Li said in an interview with the Epoch Times reporter on July 21 that the water near the city center of Zhengzhou where he was located had completely receded, the roads had been dry, and the traffic had returned to normal. But “the water has gone down, the water is probably not raining, I think it must be a flood release.”
“There is only one truth, but many people really know it, especially the locals.” Mr. Li said that according to the floods he saw when he was a child, if a village or a city is flooded, it will take three or four days for the water to slowly recede. “But now the water has returned immediately. This is very suspicious. This has already explained the problem, so this is not natural (flood), but man-made”.
Water conservancy expert: China’s floods are controlled artificially
In an interview with The Epoch Times reporter, Wang Weiluo, a Chinese water conservancy expert living in Germany, also said that many floods in China are controlled by humans, not naturally formed.
Wang Weiluo said that Zhengzhou is located in the lower reaches of the Yellow River. All the water in the Yellow River passes through the gates of Sanmenxia, and the gates are controlled by hand. People can control how much they come.”
“It (the Chinese Communist Party official) will release less if it feels that the situation is not critical, and if the situation is critical, it will release more, and the threat to the downstream will be greater. As for how many people die, it will not report or underreport it now. It has never been truly reported.” He said.
The Zhengzhou Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters stated in the content of the “Internal Mingdian” issued by the Changzhuang Reservoir that the Changzhuang Reservoir was emergency flooded due to a piping hazard.
Wang Weiluo said that the dam of the reservoir should be impermeable. Piping means that water emerges and flows out from the backside of the dam. “The thin and small ones are called piping. That is to say, the water flows through the pressure of the water. Coming out from the back of the dam, if no measures are taken at this time, the dam will break.”
He also said that it is difficult for people to see the full picture of the disaster from the fragmentary information reported by the Chinese Communist Party. You don’t have complete information. It only provides fragments of information. You don’t know the whole situation yourself. Even if the people fled, you don’t know where to go.
Zhengzhou has invested more than 50 billion to build a “sponge city”
According to Lu Media reports, in 2016 Zhengzhou became the province’s sponge city construction pilot. In 2018, it proposed to invest 53.48 billion yuan (approximately US$8.26 billion) to build a sponge city project.
Sponge city is a new generation of urban stormwater management concept, also known as “water resilient city”. When it rains, it absorbs, stores, seeps, and purifies water, and “releases” the stored water when needed and uses it. Through the construction of sponge cities, 70% of the rainfall can be absorbed and utilized locally.
In an interview with Henan’s official media “Dahe Daily” in January 2018, a relevant person from the Zhengzhou City Planning Bureau stated that the sponge city will build Zhengzhou into a sponge with water absorption, water storage, water purification and water release functions to improve urban flood control. Flood drainage and disaster reduction capabilities, improve the urban ecological environment, and ease the pressure on urban water resources.
According to the official plan, after the completion of the Sponge City, the flood control standard in the planned area of Zhengzhou will be once in 200 years.
Experts from the Chinese Communist Party claimed that the severe rainstorm in Zhengzhou has exceeded the ability of the sponge city to cope. Some people said that the heavy rain did not break the myth, but broke the joke.
Editor in charge: Lin Congwen
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