Preparing for more rain

The aftereffects of the heaviest rainstorm to lash Beijing in six decades is far from over, not just because of the heavy relief efforts that the suburban and rural areas demand, but also because of the urgency to strengthen disaster preparedness.

That Beijing will have more rainy days this year has added to the urgency. When the sky over the city was overcast on Wednesday, when another heavy rainstorm was forecast, the local meteorological department sent more than 11 million text messages to alert residents. Compared with Saturday, when residents received no warning, the local government did a better job on Wednesday.

Thankfully, it proved to be a false alarm because the storm skipped most parts of the city, but even this time, not all residents received the messages. There should be no technical difficulty for local government departments in informing residents of extreme weather in time.

More lessons should be learned from Saturday's devastating rainstorm to avoid similar tragedies when another heavy rainstorm hits the city in a couple of days.

For example, a 900-meter section of the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway in southern Beijing was submerged, the water being 6 meters high at the deepest point and the average depth being 4 meters, where 127 vehicles were inundated and three people killed. Had the expressway staff members issued a warning in advance or closed the expressway before it was flooded into a deep lake, casualties and economic loss could have been avoided.

Saturday's calamity exposed all locations vulnerable to heavy rainstorms. Besides making long-term plans to improve the drainage system, these places should be monitored closely whenever heavy rain is forecast so that warnings can be issued as early as possible. And police officers and firefighters need to be well organized to deal with such emergencies.

The Beijing municipal government has proposed a flood-prevention plan that would ensure that roads are not inundated and humans and vehicles are safe even when torrential rain lashes the city. To realize the plan, precise weather forecast, timely warning and close monitoring of vulnerable areas during emergencies are more than necessary.

Hopefully, the city and its people will be better prepared for heavy rains in the coming days and in the distant future.

(China Daily 07/27/2012 page8)