Advanced technology helps fight floods in East China

Li Fangbo has a new companion in his fight against the floods this year – a drone.

As he manoeuvres a boat through the water on rescue operations, the drone flies overhead in a supporting role.

“The drone is able to get into dangerous zones quickly and detect whether there is anyone trapped and if the rescue route is safe or not,” said Li, a drone operator from the Wuhu detachment of the armed police corps in the Anhui province.

In addition to the drones, a series of technologies have been applied in flood fighting this year in Anhui, which has saved time, energy and potentially lives as well.

Ye Mingdong, who has been working at the front line of flood control and drought relief for years in Dangtu county, Ma’anshan city, has seen the difference new technologies have made while fighting floods this summer.

“In the past, telephones would keep ringing as flood control staff from the townships and villages called to ask about the real-time precipitation and water levels.

But this year, the automatic monitoring and reporting system has helped gather key data at the rivers and lake gates,” said Ye, deputy director of the county’s flood control and drought relief office.

The system, first applied during the flood season in 2018, gathers and transmits statistics every five minutes, which makes real-time statistics available on the Internet.

There is also a large wall of screens with signals from 70 high-resolution cameras at the office, which offer real-time views of levees along the Yangtze River, high-risk sections as well as important gates in the county.

“We also have a helmet with a camera attached to it that can transmit real-time images from rescue sites to headquarters to help direct the rescue work,” Ye said.

According to water resources ministry official Liu Zhiyu, it takes only 10 to 15 minutes to gather precipitation and water level data from all the 120,000 flood-forecasting stations across the country.