英语新闻丨Tianjin ready for incoming floodwaters

Tianjin has relocated more than 80,000 residents from flood-prone areas, as a large volume of upstream water flows toward the city, posing a major challenge to authorities to prevent damage.

天津已从洪水易发区转移8万多名居民，大量的上游水流向城市给当局抵御灾害的破坏造成重大挑战。

Located by the Bohai Sea, Tianjin covers the estuaries of three major rivers in North China's Haihe River Basin, including the Daqing, Yongding and Ziyaxin.

天津位于渤海海域，覆盖了中国北部海河流域三大主要河流的河口，包括大清河、永定河和子牙河。

Unprecedented heavy rainfall since the end of last month has sent floodwaters moving toward Tianjin after the torrents passed through upstream regions last week, including some cities in neighboring Hebei province. Flooding red alerts have already been issued.

上月底以来，前所未有的强降雨导致洪水流向上游地区，包括邻近河北省的一些城市。洪水泛滥的红色预警已经发出。

Tianjin has taken multiple measures to prepare for the floodwaters, including reinforcing riverside dikes, dredging waterways and relocating large swathes of residents.

天津已经采取了多种措施为洪水做准备，包括加固河边堤坝、疏浚水道和重新安置大片居民。

The majority of relocations are from Xiqing and Jinghai districts, which are covered by the Dongdian water detention area. The low-lying area, which helps divert and retard floodwaters, was put into use on Aug 1.

大部分转移者来自西青区和静海区，属于东淀蓄滞洪区。它是有助于分流和延缓洪水的低洼地区，已于8月1日投入使用。

The area covers 379 square kilometers, with 100 sq km in the two districts of Tianjin. The remainder of the detention area is in Hebei.

该地区面积379平方公里，其中天津两个区占地100平方公里。蓄滞洪区的其余部分在河北。

According to a notice from Jinghai district's flood prevention authority, all the residents in Taitou, Duliu and Wangkou townships were relocated before Thursday.

根据静海区防汛部门的通知，台头镇、独流镇、王口镇辖区内全体人员需于8月3日（周四）前转移完毕。

More than 30,000 people from 23 villages have been relocated, according to ThePaper.cn.

据澎湃新闻报道，来自23个村庄的3万多人已经转移完毕。

Residents of two other districts, Wuqing and Beichen, were earlier relocated, as they were also in flood-prone areas.

武清、北辰两地居民先行转移，因为他们也在洪水易发地区。

After residents were moved to safe areas, rescue teams started patrolling villages and riverbanks to prevent people from returning to their homes.

在居民被转移到安全区域后，救援队开始在村庄和河岸上巡逻，以防止人们返回原居处。

The dikes of rivers in the city were also strengthened and raised to reduce the threat of rising floodwaters, the report said.

报道称，城市的河流堤坝也被加强升高，以减少洪水上涨的威胁。

The head of the floodwaters entered Tianjin on Friday and it would take two or three days for the water level to peak, Yang Bang, an official with the hydrographic office of the Haihe River Water Conservancy Commission, told ThePaper.cn.

水利部海河水利委员会水文局人员杨邦告诉澎湃新闻，洪水于周五（8月4日）进入天津，水位需要两三天才能达到峰值。

The commission is based in Tianjin and is under the administration of the Ministry of Water Resources.

该委员会的总部设在天津，隶属于水利部的管理部门。

It will take a further 12 to 15 hours for the floodwaters to run into the estuaries and then flow into Bohai Sea, Yang said.

杨邦说，洪水进入河口还需要12到15个小时，然后流入渤海。

As of Monday, cornfields in some villages had been submerged by floodwater. "If there is no more rain, it will take more than two months for the floodwaters to recede from the flood detention area," Yang said.

截至周一，一些村庄的玉米地已经被洪水淹没了。杨邦说：“如果不再降雨的话，大清河东淀洪水需要2个月以上才能消退。”

However, the downtown area of Tianjin would not be flooded as Yongdingxin River to the north and Duliujian River to the south, had been expanded in the past to deal with flooding, said Yang Zhigang, head of the commission's flood and drought disaster prevention department.

然而，水利部海河水利委员会水旱灾害防御处处长杨志刚表示，天津市区不会被淹没，因为北部的永定新河和南部的独流减河已经扩大以应对洪水。

"The rivers play important roles in preventing floodwater running into the city," he said.

他说：“这些河流在防止洪水流入城区上发挥了重要作用。”

Although the floodwater in the Haihe River Basin is receding, there are still risks, Yang Zhigang added.

杨志刚补充说，尽管海河流域的洪水正在消退，但仍存在风险。

"People that have been relocated should not go back to the flood-prone areas arbitrarily, given that the receding of floodwaters in the flood detention areas will need a long time," he said.

他说：“已经被安置的人们不应该擅自回到洪水易发地区，蓄滞洪区的洪水消退将需要很长一段时间。”

To allow floodwaters to subside smoothly, local flood prevention authorities should remove obstacles in river channels such as some structures and low bridges, he added.

杨志刚还表示，对于阻碍洪水下泄的河道内建筑物、低矮桥梁等要及时清除，确保洪水顺利下泄。

According to Yang Zhigang, dikes in the country's northern areas have not been tested by major floods for a long time. So there may be some hidden dangers when suddenly faced with a large flood, such as collapsing structures, especially in areas soaked by water for a long time.

据杨志刚说，北方堤防长期未经过大洪水检验，尤其是长时间受洪水浸泡的地方，可能会发生坍塌等险情

"Enough personnel are needed to strengthen patrols of such areas," he said.

“需要足够的人员来加强这些地区的巡逻，”他说。

Xie Yan, the chief economist of the State Grid Corp's Tianjin Jinghai branch said, "We have strengthened the patrols of ultrahigh voltage transmission lines near the villages, and are well prepared to do rush repairs".

国家电网公司天津静海区的首席经济学家谢岩（Xie Yan）表示：“我们已经加强了村庄附近超高压输电线路的巡逻，并做好了抢修准备。”

The company has set up 24-hour services, including patrolling vehicles and increased numbers of engineers, to deal with any possible power cuts caused by the incoming floods.

该公司已经建立24小时服务，包括巡逻车辆和增加工程师数量，以应对洪水可能造成的停电。

Floodwater

英/'flʌdwɔːtə(r)/美/'flʌdwɔtɚ/

n.洪水