Chapter 750: Chapter 508: The Wind Whistles and the Flood Rages!
Saving lives is as urgent as putting out a fire, especially when there are nearly four hundred people on Jiangxin Sandbar!
Bisha Ferry Company received orders from the City Flood Control Command, dispatching their only double-deck ferry.
There were several single-deck ferries available, but their safety and stability were far inferior to the double-deck, and under such adverse weather conditions, they could only be anchored in the harbor pool to avoid the wind. The Captain and crew had to stand by on the ferry to prevent it from drifting away out of control.
Han Yu commanded the 001 to et with the ferry in the waters near Bisha Ferry and guided it to rush to the north side of Jiangxin Sandbar’s dock overnight.
The ferry could not dock, so it had to anchor about one kiloter upstream from the small dock.
Facing the violent storm, 001 carefully approached the dock, and Han Yu, bending over, leaped ashore. He t a village cadre who had been waiting and briefly exchanged words, feeling a sudden chill in his heart.
Jiangxin Sandbar is not a tiny sandbar but a sixteen-square-kiloter island.
There is a farm on the island equivalent to a village administrative unit, consisting of several production teams.
The water level of the Yangtze River surged violently, and the river had flooded over several river island dams. The torrential river water was gushing into the fields. After more than nine hours of heavy rain, the accumulated water inside the dam could not be drained. From a high place, shining a waterproof flashlight down the dam, one could only see that below it had beco a marshland.
The river water in the island’s channels had overflowed the embanknts, subrging large areas of farmland, and many low-lying roads were completely flooded. Able-bodied labor was all along the embanknts, ready to evacuate, but the elderly, frail, won, and children had not gone up to the main embanknts, with at least a hundred people trapped in their hos!
"Director Han, please help us rescue people first; we can’t neglect the elderly and children."
"We have over a dozen concrete boats, and I’ve arranged for Party cadres and Basic Civilian Soldiers to go pick up people. Wait for us for two hours, at most two hours, please!"
Before deciding to evacuate, Vice Town Mayor Chen and the village cadres had already been holding the fort on the embanknt for over ten hours.
They drove stakes and stacked sandbags, carrying loads on shoulders and backs, fortifying and raising several precarious main embanknts.
However, human strength is ultimately limited in the face of natural disasters, and despite doing everything they could, they still couldn’t hold back the rising river water and the torrential downpour.
Vice Town Mayor Chen was worried that 001 and the ferry wouldn’t wait due to the typhoon, he gripped Han Yu’s hand tightly, speaking almost pleadingly, and the old party secretary was even in tears.
Han Yu didn’t want to leave the elderly, weak, won, and children behind either. Wiping the rain off his face, he shouted, "Director Zhao, organize forces imdiately to assist Secretary Zhang with the assault boats in evacuating people!"
Zhao Hongxing, snapping out of it, imdiately turned around and said, "Dong Bangjun, Zhang Bigong, what are you waiting for? Unload the assault boats now, prepare two extra cans of gasoline, and follow
to save people!"
"Thank you, thank you..."
"Now is not the ti for pleasantries."
Neither the village cadres nor the old party secretary wanted to abandon the weak; Han Yu could equally not ignore the safety of all the police officers and the ferry crew. Gently pushing away Vice Town Mayor Chen’s hand, he said decisively, "We only have an hour and a half; we save as many as we can. 001 and the ferry must evacuate before midnight!"
The old party secretary asked urgently, "Director Han, our villagers live scattered across the area, and with this pitch-black night, the roads all broken, relying on boats alone to pick them up may not be enough, what about the people who can’t leave?"
"Yes, Director Han, the concrete boats we’ve gathered don’t have propellers; they all rely on people poling with bamboo, and we can’t go fast!"
"Don’t worry, we won’t abandon our people."
Han Yu took several deep breaths and said very seriously and solemnly, "We must evacuate by midnight, but before evacuating, we will leave eight police officers, and three assault boats will also remain; they will continue the search and rescue."
There was no choice but to arrange things this way given the urgency.
Without hesitation, Zhao Hongxing said, "I will stay; I will lead the organization to search and rescue. There must be places on the island with higher terrain. After finding the remaining people, we will move the stranded individuals to relatively safe places and wait for the typhoon to pass before requesting Director Han to organize an evacuation."
"Thank you both, I’ll stay too; I know the island better than you do."
"That’s best, first organize for the people on the dyke to board the boat; I’ll take the people on the dyke to the ferry first!"
...
An island search and rescue need guidance.
Vice Town Mayor Chen and the old party secretary discussed and decided to start the search and rescue from the nearest production team, arranging for group leaders from the villagers to board the Water Police Station’s assault boats.
Although the center of the typhoon had not reached Binjiang, the wind was continuously increasing in strength.
The ferry Captain struggled to control the ferry’s posture, Ma Jintao and Zhu Baogen secured their safety ropes, one standing at the bow of the 001, the other at the stern, under Han Yu’s command they repeatedly threw out and retrieved the cables.
With the help of the ferry crew, batches of people were transferred to the ferry.
At eleven forty-five at night, the three assault boats brought in the third batch of people.
Seeing that the water had already subrged the nearby dyke and the wind growing stronger and stronger, Han Yu dared not dock like before and imdiately raised the loudspeaker of the 001: "Director Zhao, Director Zhao, this is Han Yu, we’re out of ti. Please pull at full power, don’t stop, break over the dyke and head straight to the ferry."
"Copy that!"
"Captain Yu, this is Han Yu, the assault boats are coming, please go full port rudder, adjust the heading, and lower the rear crane, let the assault boats surge onto the deck!"
"Like loading cars on the boat, just surge on?"
"Yes, please prepare to assist."
"Alright, no issues on my end, I’m mainly concerned about the assault boats."
"They’ve all received relevant training, no problems there!"
Han Yu put down the walkie-talkie, picked up the loudspeaker again: "Brother Yang, Brother Yang, prepare to launch illumination flares to light up the deck for the assault boats."
"Understood." Yang Yong quickly opened the door of the command cabin and took out the prepared flare launcher.
At this point, three assault boats, each carrying around two dozen people, had surged past the dam. Guided by the searchlights of 001 and the ferry, they powered full thrust like three arrows released from their bows, charging towards the newly lowered gangway of the ferry.
Bang!
The flare rose into the air, slowly descending towards the ferry in the fierce wind, illuminating the surrounding area as if it were dayti.
"Comrades, hold tight!"
Water Police Station officer Dong Bangjun let out a roar, held onto the engine control stick, adjusted the course, eyed the opportunity, and charged straight onto the ferry’s rear deck.
Just as they were about to board the ferry, he abruptly pressed down on the control stick, raising the engine and the propeller at the back of the assault boat to avoid damage.
The training they had undergone proved useful. The assault boat steadily beached itself on the ferry’s deck.
Several ferry crew mbers and the Basic Civilian Soldiers who had just been evacuated surged forward. They quickly assisted the elderly and children from the assault boat, moving them swiftly off before helping to pull the boat aside.
They had just cleared the "landing deck," when the second assault boat followed closely behind...
Confirming the safe transfer of the people from all three assault boats to the ferry, Han Yu held the walkie-talkie and asked, "Village Chief Chen, how many people are left on the island?"
"Twenty-eight."
"Village Chief Chen, I need to take responsibility for the ferry and 001, as well as the over three hundred people on the ferry, we cannot wait any longer, the wind is too strong, we must evacuate imdiately."
"I understand, you go ahead!"
"Director Zhao, the people on the island are in your hands, I’ll co to pick you up after the typhoon has passed."
"We’ll be fine, hurry up and leave!"
Left with no better option, Han Yu could only bid farewell to Zhao Hongxing and the others with tears in his eyes.
On the way guiding the ferry back to port, the high-frequency radio from Port Supervision and the command frequency of the police walkie-talkies were in an uproar.
There was a breach in the dike on the opposite bank, with floodwaters rushing in reverse, pouring down furiously!
The city leaders of Zhangjia Port were organizing Party cadres and the public on the embanknt to take ergency blocking asures. If they failed to close the breach, Zhangjia Port, a nationally significant erging civilized and sanitary city, would be destroyed.
Zhangjia Port had an inhabited sandbar in the river, not far from there.
From the radio conversation, it was clear that many people were trapped on the sandbar, but the vanguard of the typhoon had already arrived. If 001 did not enter port for shelter, it would lead to the loss of both the ship and lives.
Han Yu wanted to help but was powerless, so he gritted his teeth and headed back to the port.
At 12:48 a.m., the rescue fleet safely entered Bisha Ferry Port Basin. While everyone was busy organizing the people evacuated from Jiangxin Island to disembark, Han Yu finally rembered his family and quickly called his senior sister.
"The dormitory is flooded, mom and Master’s wife took Han Han to Xiao Yu’s house. Xiao Yu’s place is on high ground and in a building. They’re safe at Xiao Yu’s house!"
"Is the embanknt near Bailong Port okay?"
"No issues for now, the embanknts and sluices on the Linghai side are fine for the mont, but it seems a section of the sea dike near San Zao Port has collapsed. Luckily there are two sea dikes. Secretary Ye is currently there organizing efforts to reinforce the second one."
"What about the shipyard dam?"
"It’s fine for now, Mayor Shen has just been there to check."
Han Xiangning, knowing her junior brother was worried about their hotown, added, "Every official is on the dike, each in charge of a section. Whoever is responsible for the section that fails will be held accountable! Right now, we not only need to defend the river and port dikes but also the river embanknts. The low-lying fields are all flooded, and they are currently trying desperately to drain the water."
Han Yu asked anxiously, "Can the drainage keep up?"
"We have to drain even if it can’t keep up. Now, not only is the river level higher than the rooftops below the dike, but the water levels in the Jianghai River, Bin Qi, and Bailong River are also higher than the rooftops below the dikes."
"The typhoon is already here, and 001 in the port basin is swaying from side to side. If the power lines are blown down, those drainage stations by the river will be in trouble if there’s a power outage."
"Mayor Shen anticipated this and has already called the power supply company to arrange for personnel to be ready for ergency repairs, but the power supply company has too much on their hands. Now we can only leave it to fate."
"Leave it to fate?"
"How many staff does the power supply company have? I heard the power installation company also doesn’t have many people."
Facing such a disaster, Han Yu realized that anxiety was futile and could only helplessly say, "There are still over twenty people on Jiangxin Island. Director Zhao and Dong Bangjun are staying there, waiting for the typhoon to pass and then I will go to support them, I can’t return for now."
"There are no problems at ho, just take shelter there, and I’ll call you if anything cos up."
"Ningning, I’m not too worried about the Dunship, it has been through several typhoons, and there shouldn’t be a problem. I’m mainly concerned about the old relics."
"You don’t need to worry about the old relics, the Waterway Engineering Bureau and the Marine Engineering Bureau’s engineering ships and construction personnel are all taking shelter here. If anything really happens, I will ask them for help."
"Alright, then I’ll hang up now."
...
The wind wails, and the flood rages!
The typhoon roared all night, and the heavy rain poured all night.
Whether it was Han Yu sheltering from the wind in the Bisha Ferry Port Basin, Secretary Ye commanding the reinforcent of the second sea dike at San Zao Port, or Deputy Mayor Shen who was steadfastly guarding the section of the river dike at Sanhe, everyone was exhausted in both body and mind. Yet, no one dared close their eyes to rest. With furrowed brows and in silence, they all prayed quietly in their hearts, hoping for a miracle to appear.
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