At around 7:30 PM on September 6th, the shelter at Xuwen Experimental Middle School in Zhanjiang City, Guangdong Province, suddenly plunged into darkness. Outside, torrential rain poured down, and catastrophic winds howled.
About three hours later, Super Typhoon Yagi made its second landfall in Xuwen County, Zhanjiang City, with the maximum wind speed near the center reaching level 17. Parts of Xuwen County saw power and communication outages.
"The rain is too heavy, and the classroom where we were staying has flooded." At 11:00 PM on September 6th, a truck driver urgently asked for help at the shelter in Xuwen Experimental Middle School. Xu Chengcong, a staff from the Xuwen Emergency Management Bureau and a volunteer from the Xu Jie Volunteer Association, immediately donned a raincoat, grabbed a flashlight, and went to check on the situation.
The classroom originally housed 19 stranded drivers. But due to the heavy rain, water had accumulated on the floor, making it uninhabitable. "Right now, the most important thing is to find new accommodations for the drivers," the staff and volunteers hurried to coordinate.
"Come over here, let the drivers squeeze in with us," the staff suggested. Shortly after, a classroom originally designated for medical care became the new accommodation for the drivers.
Upon entering the new classroom, Xu Chengcong noticed the floor was a bit damp and then hurried to wipe it dry with paper towels. "No matter what happened, we have to make sure everyone is properly settled. This is what emergency response is all about," Xu said.
"Thank you for the rapid coordination; we feel much more at ease now," said Liu, a truck driver. He admitted that the strong wind and the heavy rain were frightening, and he was relieved that he had heeded the government's advice to stay at the shelter instead of staying in his truck, where it would have been dangerous.
Due to the typhoon, approximately 4,500 drivers were stranded outside Xuwen Port. On September 5th, Xuwen County set up three shelters to accommodate the stranded drivers, providing them with free meals and lodging. The shelter at Xuwen Experimental Middle School accommodated about 1,000 drivers.
How can we provide assistance to so many stranded people? What can we do when there's a power or internet outage? Under the dim light of flashlights, staff in charge of the Xuwen Emergency Management Bureau shared the details with reporters.
"We anticipated that the typhoon might prevent supplies from being delivered, so we prepared enough for 2-3 days in advance, including bread, bottled water, instant congee, and so on, to ensure the drivers have food to eat," the person in charge explained. The staff at the shelter of Xuwen Experimental Middle School mainly comprised personnel from emergency, police, health, and other departments, as well as volunteers from the Communist Youth League, school staff, and rotating party members. Over the past few days, everyone has been working around the clock and handling calls continuously.
As it turns out, Xuwen County was well-prepared for this typhoon.
Typhoon Yagi, the 11th typhoon of this year, made landfall again on the coast of Vietnam around 3:30 PM on September 7th, reducing its impact on Guangdong. According to the flood, drought and typhoon control headquarters of south China's Guangdong Province, Typhoon Yagi has now passed through. Guangdong has successfully managed the storm across the coordinated efforts from various regions and departments. So far, no casualties have been reported in the province due to the disaster.
Source: Lingnan on the Cloud
