Besides sandbags, new technologies bolster flood control
Since June, more than 45 million people in 27 provinces across China have been affected by floods, resulting in a direct economic loss of 116 billion yuan (US$16.6 billion), according to the emergency management department of the central government on Wednesday. Xinhua photographers document how new technologies, such as drones, underwater robots and power pontoon bridge, have been put into flood-control action this summer.
Chief weather forecaster Xu Aihua checks real-time data on the meteorological information monitoring platform of Jiangxi Meteorological Bureau on July 16 in Nanchang. Xu said heavy rain warnings were sent to more than 20 million people via multimedia platforms during the heavy rain season so that the affected people can be relocated in advance.
A drone takes off to check the water situation in Zhihedu Town in Huarong County, Hunan Province, on July 17. The county uses drones to supervise hard-to-reach areas.
A worker of An Neng Construction Group uses an electronic range finder to measure water levels on June 12.
Liu Liangwu checks water levels on his mobile phone on July 19 in Jiangzhou Town of Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province. Liu, vice director of the local water conservancy committee, is in charge of security along his hometown’s 3-kilometer-long embankment.
Power pontoon bridge is used to transport flood-control facilities on July 13 in Poyang County, Jiangxi Province.
Deng Juzhi, a professor from the School of Geophysics in East China University of Technology, works with electrical resistivity imaging system on the embankment of Furong River in Pengze County, Jiangxi Province, on July 21. The system works as a CT machine and can “see” through an embankment to discover its cavity, crack and leakage.
A robot can dive into water to check water situation and embankment condition.
