In view of the continuous heavy rainfall in Henan and other places, the Ministry of Transport (M.O.T) enhanced overall planning and coordination, actively guided the State Railway Administration, Civil Aviation Administration of China, State Post Bureau and transportation departments in Henan to fully carry out flood control and disaster relief, strengthened the inspection and elimination of potential disasters, improved the safety protection of important infrastructure, strengthened traffic diversion, and carried out various flood control and disaster relief down to the last detail.
On July 22, M.O.T urgently issued a notice on the repair and passage of roads, requiring local transportation departments to prepare for the repair and passage and check the potential danger of infrastructure, to effectively enhance the operation monitoring and transportation support of road networks, to strengthen the guidance and service of expressway detained vehicles and people, to get ready for emergency materials and emergency teams mobilization, and scientifically to promote disaster damage assessment and post-disaster reconstruction.
M.O.T promptly dispatched a working group and increased personnel according to the situation to support and guided local governments to fully carry out emergency rescue and disaster relief and ensured smooth traffic. The group worked with Henan Provincial Department of Transportation to guide the local governments to relieve the backlog of vehicles at the entrance and exit of expressways, coordinate problems such as the passage of inter-provincial rescue teams, solve the shortage of emergency rescue and disaster relief equipment, and also guided the repair of road flood damage, especially the damage assessment, detection and repair of bridges and expressways. The group went to Shangjie-to-Gongyi section of seriously water-damaged Lianyungang-Khorgos Expressway to conduct on-the-spot investigation in order to know the progress of emergency repair; it also went to Zhengzhou Public Transport Group Co, LTD., Zhengzhou South Bus Station and other places to conduct research as to know the bus operation and road passenger transportation recovery. It also guided the order recovery of bus operation, maintenance of station passenger order and traffic safe operation; furthermore, it went to Wanbang Logistics Park, the main distribution center of agricultural and sideline products in Zhengzhou, to investigate the transportation support of living materials.
Railways, civil aviation, postal services and local transportation departments overcame all difficulties, work with continuity and took multiple measures to ensure smooth traffic. As for problems like train obstruction, communication interruption and station flooding caused by the flood, the railway departments evacuated stranded passengers and maintained the transport order by taking measures orderly such as returning passenger trains, adding temporary high-speed trains and suspending present departure trains; strengthened the monitoring of bridge water level at stations and sections, made every effort to restore water-damaged equipment, organized emergency rescue and focused on collapse cleaning, piling and slope reinforcement,etc; organized the service for stranded passengers and provided them with drinking water and food; used new media to timely release the information such as tickets change and refund, train suspension, etc.
About civil aviation. Although heavy rainfall caused a large number of flight delays in Henan, only a few passengers outstayed. The civil aviation departments strengthened the investigation of infrastructure availability. At present, there are no incidents affecting the safe operation of airports relating to facilities and equipment in four airports under the jurisdiction of Henan.
About postal services, the delivery time of mail express in disaster areas is affected to various degrees. The postal industry timely adjusted the production, operation and transportation routes, and guided the postal express enterprises in disaster areas to timely transfer and resettle parcels and to investigate the danger in water-damaged parcels treatment sites on the premise of ensuring the employees’ safety.
Under the leadership of the local Party committee and government, the Henan Provincial Department of Transportation implemented the work requirements of M.O.T and continued to maintain Class I response to flood control.
M.O.T will continue to resolutely implement the principles from General Secretary Xi Jinping’s major instructions, the decision and deployment from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and State Council, and requirements from State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, and guide National Railway Administration, Civil Aviation Administration of China, State Post Bureau and the relevant provincial transportation departments to put work into practice, such as early warning, emergency rescue and smooth road passage. It will maintain the safe and stable operation and ensure the safety of people’s lives and property.