Trial by typhoon shows city's resilience

Swinging into action

Faced with an unprecedented deluge, Shanghai's emergency response was integrated, cross-departmental and an example of swift governance.

On Aug 3, the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau established a forecasting team to deliver step-by-step typhoon warnings aligned with flood prevention plans.

Municipal agencies conducted pre-storm risk audits across vulnerable residential compounds. Neighborhood work groups put sandbags and temporary barriers in place, and mobile crews were activated to deal with the coming stormwaters before the rain arrived.

Water gates were opened across the municipality to lower regional river levels to 2.2 meters, while sections of the underground networks were flushed out, freeing up 450 million cubic meters of storage capacity within the river system.

Regional water authorities also coordinated with neighboring provinces to close the upstream Taipu gate, stemming flood inflow from Taihu Lake.

To address localized surges, the city deployed 118 high-capacity mobile pumping vehicles capable of discharging 200,000 cu m of water per hour in total.

In tight urban spaces where heavy vehicles could not maneuver, specialized drainage robots stepped in. In an inundated underpass in Minhang district, robots nicknamed "Big Buffalo" and "Little Hippo", capable of discharging 980 cubic meters of floodwater per hour, operated efficiently in tight conditions.

On Monday, Shanghai activated an emergency water diversion system for the first time, pumping water from Suzhou Creek into the Huangpu River to prevent dangerous surges in water levels. A total of 15 portable high-capacity drainage units, capable of displacing 30,000 cu m of water per hour, were deployed to safeguard the city's infrastructure.