Zhuangtai is a residential area on raised ground that functions as a safe haven from river floods. A type of elevated village that is unique to the Huaihe River Basin, zhuangtais have long been serving as a type of Noah's Ark, offering villagers shelter from flooding.

The Huaihe River originates in central China's Henan Province and traverses some 1,000 km through several provinces, including Shandong, Anhui and Jiangsu. It used to flood a vast area of land, mainly in Anhui Province, every three to four years on average.

Created in 1953, alongside the Wangjiaba hydrological station, the zhuangtais in the Mengwa flood buffer zone are located dozens of meters above sea level, either on naturally occurring low hills or artificially built structures. Altogether, they provide homes to 195,000 residents of four townships in Funan County of Anhui.

At present, there are 131 zhuangtais in the Mengwa buffer zone of Funan County, including 77 scattered in the middle of the area like islets and another 54 along the river embankment.

During the flood diversion period, zhuangtais in the middle are like islets surrounded by floods, and daily living supplies need to be brought in by boat from outside.

On July 20, three days after the first flood this year following torrential rains, spillways at the major flood diversion facility of Wangjiaba were opened in a move to reserve capacity in flood zones.

Water roared through the diversion area at a rate of 1,360 cubic meters per second, in the midst of pouring rain, inundating local farmland and turning the zhuangtais into isolated islets.

A total of 375 million cubic meters of water, 20 times the water volume of the West Lake, was stored in the Mengwa buffer zone this year, submerging an area of more than 180 square km.

The move is expected to alleviate the pressure from both the upper reaches and downstream sections of the swollen Huaihe River.

The spillways of the Wangjiaba hydrological station have been opened to divert floodwater 16 times since it was put into use in 1953, with the last time being in 2007.