China has seen frequent flood disasters, and many are recorded in history. In the summer of 1998, China suffered massive flooding. Flooding of this scale has rarely been seen in China’s history of more than 5,000 years.
The water level of the Yangtze River reached unprecedented heights the summer of 1998. According to water management specialists, an overflow diversion into the Jing River flood diversion region should have been done. China’s premier at the time, Minister Zhu Rongji and Deputy Prime Minister Wen Jiabao (responsible for water management at the time) approved the specialists’ flood diversion plan, but at the crucial moment, Jiang Zemin turned it down. The consequence was a levee collapse in the middle of the night around the downstream Paizhou Bay area that had been labeled as a dangerous bank. More than 500,000 people suffered, and more than 12,000 died in the flood because they didn’t have enough time to escape. The Communist government has been concealing the truth since then.
After the arrival of flood season in 1998, the Yangtze area had three long lasting deluges, which led to the second-largest flood in the Yangtze River region since 1954. There were seven continuous flood surges from upstream of the Yangtze. During the first half of August, there were three flood peaks within 10 days. Most stretches on the middle fork of the Yangtze had been over the flood warning level for more than two months, and water levels had already held strong above the historical high for more than a month.
After the start of flood season, Wen Jiabao had been inspecting around the country. The Yangtze water level rose and subsided several times, reaching unprecedented heights. The whole Yangtze River bank had been soaked for more than a month and the situation was becoming very dangerous. After inspecting the unstable areas, Wen Jiabao had a deep understanding about the dangerous situation of the river bank. Wen sent an urgent telegraph to Jiang Zemin and Zhu Rongji requesting that the flood be diverted to the Jing River Flood Diversion area; if the flood waters were not diverted in time, Wuhan city and downstream cities were in jeopardy. Zhu Rongji quickly came to Hubei province after getting the message. Zhu and Wen had many meetings with local government officials and water management experts. The final decision was that it was absolutely necessary to divert the flood, and the decision was sent to Jiang for final approval.
According to a Xinhua News Agency report, on the morning of July 28, Jiang phoned Wen, who was inspecting and supervising flood prevention, and said, “pay close attention to the situation of the Yangtze while the flood peak is passing Wuhan city. Ask everyone to do their best to resist and fight the flood and ensure the safety of Wuhan city and achieve success in Yangtze River flood fighting.” But actually, Jiang was absolutely opposed to the flood diversion, asking that the bank be secured by any and all means. Meanwhile, Jiang instructed that the number of armed police be increased, and instructed that authorities at all levels increase material and manpower to secure the bank at all costs. According to the Ministry of Water Resources data, materials and supplies worth more than 10 billion yuan(US$1.2 billion) were expended on the situation.
Despite Jiang’s orders to “secure the bank at any cost,” and promises of “You need manpower, I will give you manpower; you need materials, I will give you materials,” tragedy still struck. From Aug. 1-5, periphery levees collapsed consecutively in Jiayu County Baizhou Bay, Jiujiang and Jiangxin, and on Aug. 7, the main levee of the Yangtze collapsed.
The periphery levee in Waijiang, Hezhen of Jiayu County, collapsed first on Aug. 1. The opening was finally blocked after soldiers and rural workers toiled nonstop for five days and nights, exhausting methods like sinking boats, driving pilings, fixing boards, and setting stones. But, on Aug. 5, periphery levees in Paizhou, Jiujiang, Jiangxin area of Jiayu County collapsed consecutively. The area outside the levee in Paizhou area is densely populated and booming with commercial and industrial business. There were nearly 500,000 people living in more than 20 towns. All able-bodied persons had been working on the riverbank, with only elders, women and elementary school children staying home.
The levee collapsed at midnight Aug. 5 when the soaked bank could not withstand the flood anymore. The flood tore open a 50-meter-long opening and engulfed in no time about 100 armed police, soldiers and rural workers working on the levee. The flood rushed into villages, schools, farmlands and mine sites. The flood swallowed many elderly, women and children while they were still sleeping in their beds. Homes and properties accumulated by generation after generation of hard work disappeared in an instant, and most of the livestock and poultry died in the flood. From midnight Aug. 5 to noon the next day, 10 square kilometers were flooded.
The news shocked every level of government officials from Beijing to Jiayu County. They deployed big trucks and ships to fill the hole in the levee, while organizing rescue teams to rescue survivors from the flood. While en route to fill the burst levee with sandbags, many of the trucks
and ships sank, disappearing quickly while the water rushed over them. The rescue team could hardly keep themselves safe on the ships in the flood, let alone rescue survivors. The rescue efforts were greatly hindered. From Aug. 6 to 7, except for the very few people who climbed into tall trees or buildings and managed to survive, 11,000 residents of the county were “missing.” Later, statistics of the Jiayu County Civil Affairs Department showed that during the two collapses, 11,000 women, children and elderly people, and 1,000 soldiers and laborers died or were declared missing in the flooding. Many families died in the flood, leaving no bodies to be found. Many families were torn.
On Aug. 5, the lower reaches of the Yangtze River collapsed at Jiujiang and Jiangxinzhou at the same time. Fortunately, the breaches happened during the daytime, so the losses were smaller. On Aug. 7, the main levee of the Yangtze River collapsed at Jiujiang. Officials lost control and instructed that anything that would pack be dumped into the opening. There were 5 million tons of rice, soybeans and other grains, more than 50 big trucks and 18 ships sunk into the torrent.
Later, a military team of 200 soldiers specially trained in blocking floods was deployed from Zhangjiakou to help. They pounded in pilings, fixed boards and poured cement and stone to block the opening and they finally stopped the flooding. The collapse cost 8.2 billion yuan (US$990 million). In addition to the 12,000 people who died in Paizhouwan area, the four breaches at Waijiang Minyuan Hezhenyuan, Jiujianduan, Jiangxinzhou and Jiujiang claimed 6,000 lives and more than 50 billion yuan (US$6 billion).
Despite such a severe mistake in decision making, official Chinese media completely covered it up. Officials were required to give the same story, minimizing the death and financial loss statistics to reduce any negative impact. Xinhua News and CCTV briefly reported it as the following. “On the evening of August 1, the periphery levee on the Yangtze River collapsed in Jiayu County Waijiang Hezhenyuan section, causing severe damage, including direct financial losses of 1.586 billion yuan, residential property loss of 0.57 billion yuan and 19 military soldiers missing in the rescue efforts. On August 5, levees in Jiayu County Paijiangduan, Jiujianduan and Jiangxinzhou sections collapsed in succession. On August 7, the main levee of the Yangtze River collapsed at Jiujiang. More than 4,000 military personnel participated in the rescue efforts; they drove pilings, fixed wood boards and poured cement in between to block up the breach. They also sunk eight ships and finally stopped the flooding. The collapse cost 3.29 billion yuan in direct financial losses.”
However, the death toll and financial losses reported were only small fractions of the truth.
The flooding at Hubei Province Paizhouwan area was a disaster caused by the severe mistake in decision-making. It was caused by Jiang Zemin’s ignorance of science and nature. The truth of this incident was covered up with lies. However, “paper can never cover up fire.” Now I expose it to the public so that history will record the crimes CCP committed during Jiang Zemin’s regime.
