Farming resumes 24 days after dike breach sealed in Central China

CHANGSHA -- Twenty-four days after a dike breach was sealed at the embankment of China's second-largest freshwater lake of Dongting, rice transplanters began shuttling into once flood-submerged fields on Thursday to catch up with agricultural production.

On July 5, the dike breach at the lake levee in Tuanzhou township in Central China's Hunan province flooded an area of 47 square kilometers. Rescuers managed to fix the breach on July 8.

Xie Bin, captain of a rescue team from the provincial flood control and drought relief force, said more than 200 million cubic meters of water needed to be drained after the flooding. His team of 35 people came to help, bringing 13 water-draining trucks and 300 water pumps from the provincial capital of Changsha.

In total, more than 3,800 rescue personnel from across the country arrived in Tuanzhou, bringing with them more than 1,500 sets of water drainage equipment to join the rescue operation.

"Long arrays of water pumping machines roared together to drain the flood over the past few days. Now only about 100 are needed to keep working and would leave in another two days as the drainage came to an end," said Xie.

The lakeside land is one of the country's important grain producing areas. Tuanzhou township's drained area has more than 4,000 mu (266.7 hectares) of paddy farmland. Currently, 30 rice transplanters and 20 rotary tillers are operating at full capacity for rice planting.

Wei Wenfang, deputy director of the agriculture and rural bureau of Huarong County that administers Tuanzhou, said that the local government would provide farmers affected by the disaster with free rice seedlings and agricultural services.

"Planting on 3,000 mu of rice fields will be completed before Aug 3," he said.

Local rice grower Feng Zhonghe said he had planted more than 500 mu of rice and soybeans prior to the flooding.

"The rice yield would certainly fall this year due to the flooding. But with the government's post-disaster measures to help transplant rice and the agricultural insurance to compensate for the losses, I can still expect to see some slim profits from farming this year," he said.

While rescuers worked to drain the flooded fields, Feng purchased two pumps for emergency purposes, as well as fertilizer and insecticide to prepare for the rice plants growth.

Hunan has suffered the strongest rainfall this year since June 16, swelling the Dongting lake. The dike breach was initially measured at about 10 meters wide but it continued to expand, forcing a relocation of approximately 5,000 residents.

A large amount of lake water overflowed from the gap at a fast flow rate, making it difficult to fix. Sand carrier ships were dispatched, and trucks were deployed to fill the gap.