Chapter 152 Swallowed by Heavy Rain
"Heavy rain orange warning signal: In the past 1 hour, the precipitation in central Assam has reached 26 mm; it is expected that there will be 25 to 30 mm of precipitation in the next 1 to 2 hours. Please pay attention to preventing urban waterlogging and road traffic safety ; Released by the Assam Meteorological Department at 19:13 on October 10, 2024."
Warning level: blue, yellow, orange and red.
Unexpectedly, the meteorological station skipped the second level and directly issued an orange signal, which showed that the rainfall was rapidly increasing.
The most obvious thing is that the air pressure drops significantly.
Under normal conditions, the surface air pressure is 1013 hPa, and the air pressure value when it rains is less than 1013 hPa. You must know that the lowest pressure at the center of the severe tropical storm "Sura" that landed in Haixi Province, Xiaguo's coast is 985 hPa. , that is to say, the air pressure in Assam suddenly dropped to 991, which is probably because a tropical depression is approaching.
The so-called tropical depression is a type of tropical cyclone, but it is the weakest level. It develops upward into tropical storms and typhoons.
Assam belongs to the Bay of Bengal region, where storms and tornadoes form every September and October.
Gu Ji immediately ran to the window and opened it.
"Huh! Huh-huh-huh..."
First, there was a strong cold wind blowing in through the cracks in the window, and then there was the sound of showers hitting the ground, and even the windowsills were covered with rain and water splashing.
He stuck his head out of the window, turned on the flashlight, and glanced at the ground.
Thunder was rolling outside the building, and the heavy rain had already spread. The gravel road was completely covered with white water, and it turned into a flowing stream, with countless water splashes vying to bloom on it. Looking closer, there was not even a single person on the street. No, looking from a distance, the buildings and trees are blurry.
"Dispur's drainage system is beginning to be unable to withstand the heavy rain..."
Gu Ji murmured and took a deep breath, feeling vaguely stuffy. This is actually low air pressure affecting the physiological oxygen supply of the human body. Once the air pressure drops sharply in a short period of time, it will even speed up breathing and blood circulation. , shortness of breath, accelerated heart rate, even hypoxia, dizziness, headache, etc., just like altitude sickness.
He took out his cell phone and dialed the fire department.
Even if the meteorological and water conservancy departments are off duty now, the emergency, power supply, police, and fire departments must be on call 24 hours a day.
What he didn't expect was that no one answered the fire call.
It wasn't until nearly half a minute that the operator responded. Gu Ji once again quickly and briefly informed the other party of the various abnormal conditions discovered in the afternoon.
But the fire operator said that this was not under their jurisdiction and that he could record and report it to the meteorological and water conservancy departments.
Helpless, Gu Ji has only the last option left: the Disaster Management Department!
This is a department specially established by the Indian cabinet government to deal with many natural disasters in the country. It is an agency responsible for natural disasters such as cyclones, earthquakes, floods, droughts and landslides in India, similar to the Emergency Management Bureau of Xia State.
After asking the fire operator for the phone number, he hurriedly dialed again.
This time the wait was longer.
It took a full minute before someone answered:
"Hello sir, this is the public helpline of the Assam Disaster Management Department. I am the operator..."
"My name is Vidhi, from the investigation and research team of the state agriculture department office. I saw that the Information Center of the Meteorological Department has just issued an orange warning for heavy rain. Now the urban drainage system of Dispur can no longer withstand the heavy rainfall brought by this heavy rain. Low-lying areas The water level is rising rapidly, and urban groundwater intrusion is expected to occur soon, and it takes half a minute for the fire department to connect to dispatch, indicating that disaster incidents in urban areas are rising sharply and firefighting police resources are greatly consumed."
"The current air pressure value is 990 hPa, which is already close to the central low pressure value of the tropical storm. There is a high probability that the post-monsoon low pressure zone in the Bay of Bengal is making landfall. Continued heavy precipitation will cause Brahmaputra in Assam to The La River has flooded, and animals have invaded the town on a large scale in the afternoon..."
Seeing that the operator was still acting the same way as the Meteorological Office in the afternoon, Gu Ji quickly spoke up and interrupted the other person.
But I don’t know whether it was because he spoke too fast or because the information description was too professional. The other end of the phone was silent for a long time. It was not until he reminded him after he finished speaking that the operator responded.
"Mr. Vidi, I'm sorry, our Disaster Management Department has not yet received the abnormal warning information from the weather station monitoring center. Please let me know..."
"I just want to ask, are you in Dispur now? Have you heard how heavy the heavy rain is outside? The meteorological observatory also assured me in the afternoon that no heavy precipitation signal has been detected yet. As a result, it was only an hour in the evening. Two heavy rain warning messages were issued in succession, and the rainfall in one hour has now exceeded 26 millimeters."
"For meteorological observations, the organization of tropical depressions is relatively loose. Tropical depressions formed in monsoon troughs usually exhibit obvious monsoon depression characteristics. The wind force is strong outside and weak inside, and there are convective holes, making it difficult to identify the low-level circulation center. If we really wait for the tropical depression to completely make landfall or form a tropical storm, it will be too late by then!"
Gu Ji is very lucky. Since he obtained the "Crisis Management Game", he has not missed any of the skills in the four major areas of the research system. Even if it is no longer useful, he will light up at least one level, so that he has many skills stored in his mind. Professional knowledge on the formation and handling of natural disasters.
It was precisely because of these few professional terms that the operator won the attention, and he left a message saying "Wait a moment."
He connected him with experts from the crisis management team of the Disaster Management Department.
After waiting for nearly a minute, the person who answered the phone this time was a woman named Fatima Yami. She is an expert in the crisis management team specializing in tropical cyclones, heavy rains, and floods. The other person seemed to be busy with something. While working, Gu Ji could clearly hear her turning the pages of her book.
So, he repeated what he had just repeated to the operator.
This is the fourth time today that he has repeatedly emphasized the crisis of heavy rain and flooding.
Fatima did not respond immediately after hearing this, but rummaged through some information.
"Mr. Vidhi, first of all, I admire your professional knowledge, but Assam is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and Dispur is located in the north-central part of the state. Even if a deep low pressure group really makes landfall from the Bay of Bengal, it will have to pass through neighboring states first. From the country of Bangladesh, it takes at least 500 kilometers to get to the northern state.”
"You should also know that the wind speed of a low-pressure group can only reach 41 to 62 kilometers per hour, which is a strong wind level. It usually does not have an eye and lacks the tight organization and shape, clouds and thunderstorms of higher-level tropical cyclones. The belt is very loose and cannot support it across such a long distance. Even if it does reach Dispur, it will have been weakened long ago and will not cause large-scale heavy rain disasters.”
"Theoretically, this is indeed the case, but have you considered the climate environment?"
Faced with Fatima's rebuttal, Gu Ji was not at a loss for words. Instead, his central nervous system became rapidly active, and all the cases and causes of natural disasters in his memory area appeared before his eyes:
“India has the rainy season and post-monsoon season every September and October, with frequent thunderstorms and disasters such as mudslides and floods. From the early 20th century to 2018, India’s average temperature has increased by about 0.7°C, which is the highest rate in the world. Warming leads to an increase in temperatures, which in turn causes an increase in water vapor, leading to heavy rainfall during the monsoon season in India. A report from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research also pointed out that global warming has made India's monsoon more powerful."
"Another factor of global warming is the lack of snow cover on the Tibetan Plateau. According to the Atmospheric and Environmental Comprehensive Observatory of the Academy of Sciences, in the winter of 2017 and 2018, the snow cover area on the Tibetan Plateau was 22.2% less than the climatic conditions. The snow cover was The smaller amount will cause the surface sensible heat and ascending motion to be stronger in spring and summer, which will facilitate the upward propagation of sensible heat flux, further strengthen the tropospheric temperature, increase the thermal difference between the plateau and the ocean troposphere, strengthen the monsoon meridional circulation, and ultimately lead to the monsoon Environmental enhancement.”
"Animals are always the best early warning of disasters. Even the Indian bison, which has excellent water resistance, has fled the northern part of the state, and birds are also migrating to the south. This shows that the rivers in the northern part of the state have begun to overflow, seriously affecting the biological and ecological environment. This Can’t it still raise alarm?”
As soon as she finished speaking, Fatima had the same reaction as the operator:
silence.
The other party seemed to have no idea that Gu Ji's professional knowledge on meteorological disasters was so rich, even rising to the level of global climate change. However, based on this, he could also deduce the results of the strengthening of the Indian monsoon step by step. His thinking was clear, his logic was rigorous, and he was almost impeccable. .
To know.
Assam is right at the foot of the Himalayas, so it is greatly influenced by the Tibetan Plateau.
"Mr. Vidi, what is your full name? Where do you work?"
“Vidhi Daly, Assam Agriculture Department District Office!”
"Department of Agriculture, no wonder, I have recorded the phone number. I will immediately rush to the Bangbei Meteorological Monitoring Station and the Water Conservancy Department to investigate the flooding of the river. If any abnormalities are found, I will notify you immediately!"
"Notifying me is useless. The key lies in whether the state government's existing materials, manpower, and medical care are capable of dealing with a large-scale heavy rain and flood crisis. Just the orange rainstorm warning has already made the district fire department extremely busy. If a flood really occurs, the entire Isn’t Assam directly paralyzed?”
Even without mentioning his experience in disaster prevention in the field of natural disasters, Gu Ji also knows the importance of personnel and materials after experiencing the cruise ship barrier.
Sometimes a bottle of medical alcohol and a set of protective clothing may save a life;
Converting it to a natural disaster, a life jacket or a compressed can can even involve a whole family!
To put it bluntly, in terms of professional meteorological knowledge, Gu Ji is actually not as good as Fatima. The reason why he can tell so much is just an expansion of the "standard answer" because the mission objectives clearly told him that Assam The state is a disaster area.
So no matter what he said, it was right in the end.
When it came to this step, Fatima realized that the other party not only had real talents and knowledge, but also had rich practical experience. After she repeatedly emphasized that she would start investigating and making arrangements, she hurriedly hung up the phone.
Gu Ji lowered his head and glanced at the rushing rainwater underground, closed the window, and returned to bed.
This is the limit of what he can do now. In a small accident or man-made conflict, he may be able to rush in and save a few people alone. In a medium-sized public health incident, he must gather more than a dozen medical staff to help and set up an isolation area. , treatment area, observation area, etc.
When it comes to large-scale disasters, let alone one person, dozens or hundreds of people will be in vain in the face of the wrath of nature, unless government departments, volunteers, and the military are involved.
"Now we can only wait for news about Fatima..."
From dodging Bengal tigers in the afternoon to going around in circles to purchase supplies, Gu Ji gradually closed his eyelids with his tired nerves.
"Help!"
"Ba Li Ba Li, run!"
…
Gu Ji opened his eyes suddenly, his heart beating violently.
He was awakened in his sleep by a cry for help.
Turning my wrist, I saw the time on the familiar Volut watch: 5:17. The sky outside the window was gloomy, and the sound of raindrops continued, indicating that the heavy rain had been falling all night.
Gu Ji rubbed his eyelids and yawned to temporarily relieve his fatigue.
Taking out his mobile phone, the weather station sent another message in the middle of the night and early in the morning:
"Heavy rain red warning signal: In the past 1 to 2 hours, precipitation has reached 60 mm in many areas of central Assam; 40 to 60 mm of precipitation is expected to occur in the next 1 to 2 hours. Pay attention to preventing urban waterlogging and road traffic safety ; Released by the Assam Meteorological Observatory at 3:43 on October 11, 2024."
"Sure enough, a red rainstorm warning has been issued!"
He couldn't imagine how terrifying it would be if such a heavy rain continued all night. He hurriedly got out of bed, without even having time to wash his face. He took a big drink of water, put on the waterproof underground work clothes he bought yesterday, and picked up his backpack. , munching biscuits while going down the stairs.
Unexpectedly, when he reached the third floor of the stairs, he met a middle-aged man in white robe on the second floor. He was the hotel owner who brought him into the room yesterday.
The boss didn't recognize Gu Ji's dress at first, but he realized it later.
Seeing him carrying his bag and going downstairs, he raised his hands and shook his head, shaking his head and saying:
"Sir! Sir! For your safety, please do not go downstairs now. The streets below have been flooded. You will probably be flooded if you go out!"
"Thank you, but I have to go out. I hope you can keep the room for me!"
Compared with the rising water levels in the city caused by heavy rains, Gu Ji was more worried about his room. During a disaster, it was not easy to find a safe shelter.
After bidding farewell to the hotel owner.
When Gu Ji arrived at the first floor, turbid brown sewage had poured into the steps of the first floor. According to preliminary estimates, it was at least close to half a meter deep. No wonder the boss wouldn't let him out.
You know, this is one of the highest locations in Dispur City.
Even here was flooded by less than half a meter. He couldn't imagine how those low-lying places would be flooded.
"Wow..."
Gu Ji stepped into the water with his rubber boots. The resistance from the current made it slightly difficult for him to walk. Fortunately, after he acquired the maritime combat training skills, he quickly adapted to this method of wading and walking.
After leaving the hotel.
The heavy rain outside was still falling, but at least it was much lighter than the heavy rain last night. Looking around, the entire alley was submerged in water, a vast ocean, and only a little of the tops of some low buildings farther away could be seen.
In the water, countless soaked passers-by with dark skin were carrying furniture or sandbags, seemingly trying to stop the water from pouring into their homes, but it was in vain. Many people were pushing bicycles or carrying packages on their heads, trying to hurry on. work.
"The state disaster management department hasn't issued a statement yet, suspending classes and businesses across the state?"
Just when Gu Ji was confused.
"ah--!"
The last atmospheric pressure data was wrong. The data was written incorrectly and has been changed. In addition, I wish everyone a happy New Year!