Homecoming villagers defend countryside against flooding

NANCHANG, July 5 (Xinhua) -- From college graduates to migrant workers, many Chinese people are rushing back to the villages that they once left for urban jobs or education, united by a call to guard their rural hometowns against flooding.

The latest round of rainstorms has swelled rivers in southern and eastern China, including the Yangtze River -- the country's longest -- piling the pressure on many riverside villages that lack young workers to patrol and fortify besieged dikes.

Jiangzhou Town, located on an island on the Yangtze, in the eastern province of Jiangxi, has issued a letter calling on villagers to return and join the local battle against flooding.

"Fellow villagers, when you read this letter, your hometown needs you," said the letter, published on the local official WeChat account. "Please join us on the frontline of flood control and defend Jiangzhou!"

The island town has over 42,000 registered residents, but its permanent population has shrunk to about 4,000 due to young villagers leaving for better-paying jobs in cities, leaving behind mostly the elderly and children.

As of Thursday evening, a total of 1,298 villagers had answered the call to return, said Wang Zifeng, head of the town.

Among them is Li Zhongyuan, 55, whose family drove more than eight hours to return to Jiangzhou from the neighboring Fujian Province.

"I moved out of the village long ago and have returned less frequently in recent years. But it has been a tradition for us to come back and help in times of flooding," said Li, who was patrolling the embankment wearing a life-vest.

The latest round of rain-triggered floods and geological disasters has impacted 1.56 million people and flooded about 160,667 hectares of farmland in Jiangxi by Thursday evening, incurring a direct economic loss of 1.86 billion yuan (about 260.9 million U.S. dollars), according to official figures.

As the water levels on local rivers and lakes continue to rise, the provincial government has deployed 182,800 people on dike patrols and 73,000 people on disaster relief. Many villages and towns are mobilizing villagers to monitor and mend dikes.

"We have issued calls to summon back young villagers who are working in other places. Some are already on the way," said Wang Mingjian, Party chief of Nanwan Village in Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi.

In Anhui Province, also in eastern China, more than 50,000 people have been mobilized to patrol dikes and embankments in cities along the Yangtze. Heavy downpours have lashed the province, forcing the evacuation of 242,000 people.

In Anhui's Susong County, Tan Kang used a shovel to turn over knee-high grass on the dike to spot any leakage points.

Tan, 22, skipped his college graduation celebrations to return to his hometown, where he joined nearly 1,000 officials and volunteers in patrolling dikes.

"I used to be terrified by snakes, but I've seen so many in the past few days that I'm used to them now," he said. The patrol along the 1-km dike lasts 40 minutes and is arranged once every three hours.

"I see the patrols as my graduation ceremony," said the graduate of Huangshan University.

Authorities said due to persistent heavy rainfall, water levels of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Poyang Lake and Dongting Lake will continue to rise.

The central government said it has allocated about 8.13 million yuan worth of emergency-relief materials to hard-hit Jiangxi. Expert teams have been dispatched to the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jiangxi, Anhui, Hubei and Hunan to support local flood-control efforts.