Binjiang Police Affairs-Chapter 861 - 585: Walking Toward the Flood Peak, Sleeping by the Yangtze River!

In the blink of an eye, a month has passed since 001 set out.

From Jiangnan Province’s Shuzhou City, they traveled upstream, passing Hui’an and Xijiang to reach Beihu.

Yao Lirong and others, together with Master Xi and Master Xu, walked toward the floods and slept by the Yangtze River, conducting surveys along the way to provide decision-making bases for the Yangtze Flood Control Command, the Yangtze River Committee, and flood control command departments of provinces and cities along the river.

The work and life on the ship can be described as "water deep and fire hot."

When the weather was bad, they were hit by continuous storms, with thunder and lightning.

The Kent windows in the cockpit spun rapidly, yet Captain Fan and Liu Wei still couldn’t see the river ahead. At night, it was pitch black outside, and during the day, the windows were covered with a grey sheet of rainwater, forcing them to rely on radar to detect if there were any boats ahead.

Sometimes, in high winds and choppy waters, 001 was like a leaf rising and falling in the storm.

Yao Lirong and village cadre Yang Dawei, who hadn’t been on a boat much before, threw up until they couldn’t anymore. Master Xi, Master Xu, Zhu Baogen, and "Land God" Xiao Chen were too tense to speak. Even the experienced Captain Fan and Liu Wei’s hands trembled on the steering wheel, but they still fought to move forward.

When the weather was good, 001 was roasted like a scorching hot iron plate in the sun.

The deck was so hot it could fry an egg, and you couldn’t touch the cabin walls or railings.

While the cockpit and command cabin were air-conditioned, most surveying tasks had to be done along the ship’s side, such as measuring water speed and sediment content in the floodwaters. After a few hours, they were dizzy and nearly fainted from the heat.

Compared to the deck, the engine room was even more stifling and hot.

Zhu Baogen and Xiao Chen’s clothes were always wet; they didn’t know how much they sweated in a day, but they had to drink plenty of water each day.

They barely made it to Hanwu, docking at a small pier with rising water levels for just five hours, successfully completing the resupply. Once Master Xi and Master Xu returned after reporting their work onshore, they set out again.

Following their superior’s instructions, 001 was now responsible for surveying the Yangtze Hanwu Section to the Changyi Section.

Sailing from Xijiang, the levees on both sides of the river were filled with military and civilian personnel participating in flood control, with Red Flags everywhere, just like in Hanwu.

Upon reaching the Dragon King Temple Embankment, the river’s surface was wide, the current swift, and the torrents roared forward, carrying silt, tree roots, and various debris washed down from upstream, and furiously scouring the riverbank.

It’s said there were dangers ashore, multiple leaks appeared in the Hanwu levee, houses near the water seepage points in the city were being demolished, and people had already been evacuated. They were too busy resupplying at the small pier before to get ashore, unaware of how tense it was. Now they finally felt the tense atmosphere of flood fighting.

Two cargo ships carrying stones from upstream could be seen anchored outside the Dragon King Temple Embankment, with people aboard throwing large stones at the leaking areas. The stones caused huge splashes and thundering sounds as they were immediately swept away by the surging river.

On the nearby river surface, more stone-carrying ships were waiting to dock.

Through binoculars, Yao Lirong could clearly see people onshore stringing together block stones and concrete blocks to increase the weight of the stones entering the river. Many others were building cofferdams and dumping gravel on the shore...

Master Xu, a native of Hanwu, looked on with concern and said, "Xiao Yao, this is where the Yangtze River meets its largest tributary, the Han River, and it’s also the most dangerous levee section. During the great Yangtze floods of 1931 and 1954, the Hanwu Three Towns were inundated, caused by the breach at the Dragon King Temple Embankment."

The first flood peak of the Yangtze River has already formed upstream.

If sticking to the original plan, 001 would have completed its mission and could return after restocking oil, drinking water, and provisions.

But because the flood peak is approaching, the flood control command departments need to constantly monitor the flood peak situation. The superiors considered that 001 not only had underwater surveying equipment and was a stable, powerful tugboat that had weathered storms at the Yangtze River Tail, but its pilots and crew were experienced in handling storms, making it more suitable than the flood control department’s newly launched first command ship "Guoxun No. 1" for the flood peak survey mission. Therefore, they decided to extend its borrowing period by a month!

Plans are always outmatched by changes.

Although Yao Lirong was homesick, he still agreed to continue with the survey mission since it was surveying flood peak data, akin to the Meteorological Bureau’s "Storm Chasers." How many among China’s vast number of hydraulic engineers get such an opportunity?

Moreover, following Master Xi and Master Xu could truly yield many valuable lessons.

Yao Lirong steadied his mind, put down the binoculars, and asked, "Master Xu, is this year’s flood really bigger than that of ’54? Is the flood peak we’re surveying really larger than the flood peak of ’54?"

Da Yu was so dedicated to controlling the flood that he didn’t visit home even three times when he passed by.

Master Xu never thought he’d experience such a day, arriving at Hanwu yet unable to visit his aged father.

He took several deep breaths to calm himself, frowned slightly, and said, "According to data from upstream hydrological stations, this flood peak should be less than that of 1954."

"Less than 1954?"

"The water volume is less than in 1954, but the pressure on the Yangtze River levee exceeds that of 1954."

Master Xu suddenly felt the urge to smoke, pulled out a cigarette, and explained, "Due to the widespread defenses established in midstream and lower reaches like the Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake being heavily reclaimed over the years, significantly reducing the regulation and storage capacity, coupled with severe soil erosion upstream which clogs rivers and lakes, the Yangtze River water level has continued to rise despite not having a large volume of water."