On the morning of July 6, a severe emergency occurred at the Liulan Reservoir in Hengzhou City, Nanning, Guangxi—there was a breach in the dam body. Villagers from Liulan Village, which is 1 kilometer away from the reservoir, were evacuated, but some people were still swept by the floodwaters for more than ten kilometers, fortunately surviving in the end.
Chengshi Interactive contacted a 39-year-old villager of Liulan Village, who grew up next to the reservoir. She revealed: “Today (Monday) at around 8 a.m., the village received notification to evacuate immediately. Now, most villagers have moved to the nearby mountains.”
“Our whole village had just finished evacuating to the mountain when the downstream Liulan Reservoir dam could no longer hold. The reservoir is less than one kilometer from the village. The floodwater rushed down along the dam body, causing heavy losses to Duitian Village just below the reservoir. Dozens of houses in the village were directly swept away.”
This villager also said that there was a thrilling moment during the evacuation: “There is a guy in our village, in his forties or fifties, who had served in the military and is a good swimmer. He was swept away by the flood for more than ten kilometers, but fortunately, he was rescued midway and narrowly escaped with his life.”
What is most worrying now is the material shortage for villagers taking refuge in the mountains. “All the roads have been washed away by the flood, and no one can deliver food and water into the mountains. The elderly and children up there are lacking food and drink,” said the villager. “I heard that now the water level hasn’t continued to rise sharply, but the water volume in surrounding villages is high, making it impossible to drain the flood.”
This villager said there has been no word of anyone missing so far, but the roads are cut off, communication is hampered, and supply of materials to the shelters in the mountains has completely stopped. Some elderly people are unwilling to leave home and remain on high rooftops waiting for the water to recede. Supplies are ready outside, but the mountain paths are washed away and vehicles simply can't get in. “There is definitely a shortage of food and water on the mountain, and everyone is very anxious.”
“The fact that we could evacuate people onto the mountain is already lucky. It’s just the children are still hungry, and we’re outside terribly worried, but supplies can’t be delivered in…”
It is reported that Liulan Reservoir is a medium-sized reservoir locally. Currently, local emergency, fire, water conservancy and other relevant departments are carrying out emergency rescue and evacuation work.
The Nanning Emergency Management Committee announced that affected by this year’s Typhoon No. 10 “Maysak”, there had been heavy to torrential, and even extremely heavy, rainfall in most parts of Nanning from 8:00 a.m. on July 4 to 11:00 a.m. on July 6, causing rapid rises in river water levels in some places. On the morning of July 6, Hengzhou City’s Liulan Reservoir and Yunbiao Reservoir experienced overtopping and breaches, and Liuwang Reservoir in Binyang County experienced overtopping as well. At 11:30 a.m. on July 6, the Nanning Emergency Management Committee raised the city's flood control emergency response from level three to level one.