PureInsight | October 29, 2001
This year, Mainland China suffered a serious drought. At least one-third of the country suffered losses in different degrees. Many regions suffered a drought that was the longest lasting and most severe in decades, even in the past century. Cities such as Beijing, Sichuan, Chongqing, Xi’an (in Shanxi province), many grassy areas in Mongolia, and most of Shandong province suffered the kind of drought that’s very rare in their history. During the rainy season near the Long River area, the rain comes every year at the same time in June, before the heat of summer arrives. However, this year, a “dry rainy season” took place, during which the continuous rain didn’t appear. At the same time, the water level of the Long River went down to its lowest point in the past century. What’s even more unbelievable is that, with such a drought over one huge area of the country on the one hand, deluges and hailstorms of rare severity assailed many other regions from the south to the north.
From September 18 to 20, an extremely unusual rainstorm attacked the western part of Sichuan province bordering Chongqing City, a place suffering from serious drought. This rainstorm was the most harmful in all of Sichuan province’s weather records. Fifty-three cities and counties in Sichuan had record-breaking rainfall. Among them was Deyang City, which had 367 mm. of rainfall. One of the Long River’s branch rivers, the Tuo River, had the second of two great floods in fifty years. On the 19th, the streets in Deyang City suffered a “crowning calamity” -- cars were completely submerged, and their drivers had to swim out of them to save their lives. “I’ve never seen such great rain as this; it’s as if the sky had opened, and water poured straight down. Neither have I ever heard such loud thunder; the whole sky was brightly lit by lightning.” People in Mianyang City vividly described this disaster. The rainfall from this deluge broke all past records. After 12 hours of continuous rain, Mianyang City became a city of rivers. Even some decades-old trees with trunks so thick it took several people to encircle them were downed.
At 8:30 p.m. on July 1, 2001, a 30-minute gale and rainstorm assailed Changchun City; the wind speed reached 28 ft per second and the wind force 10 degrees. Within the first ten minutes of the rainstorm, most regions in Changchun City had over 10 mm. of rainfall, which resulted in four casualties and numerous injuries. Over ten districts had their power cut off because the power converters caught fire and the wires broke. Downed trees and debris could be seen everywhere.
On August 1, the rainstorm and gale changed direction and attacked Qingdao City. As a result, more than ten major streets were flooded and more than a hundred trees were downed by the wind.
In the morning of August 23, within a short period of one to two hours, gales and hailstorms battered several major cities, including Rizhao, Zibo, Jinan, Dezhou, Laifu, Linxin, Binzhou and Weifang. Twenty-three counties suffered serious losses. The large hail pellets were the size of eggs and the small ones the size of dates. The hailstorm lasted a long time and was accompanied by thunderstorms and gales. Crops and commercial plants in the affected areas suffered terrible losses, especially fruit trees, which basically yielded a zero harvest. Houses were damaged and destroyed, and lots of them collapsed. Hundreds of people were injured and killed.
On August 9, a two-to-three hour torrential rain poured down in Shanghai, in the central city area; the rainfall averaged 80 to 100 mm [about 3 to 4 inches]. The Xujiahui area suffered four hours of rain that added up to 143 mm [about 5.6 inches]. Hengshan Street, Huaihai Street, Huashan Street, and others, which were the developed and busy areas of Shanghai, were flooded. The sudden rainfall caused mud to pour into the subway.
From August 6 to August 7, Qu County and Yibin City in Sichuan province suffered windstorms and hailstorms, which caused seven deaths and 198 injuries. There were areas with parts where traffic, communications and electricity were interrupted, conditions that lasted for a while. Hong County, Gao County, Yibin County, Changning, Pingshan, and some other places. suffered gales, hailstorms, and thunder and lightening twice; the wind force reached 6 to 10 degrees, and the hail pellets were three centimeters in diameter. The gales downed 250,000 bamboos and trees, broke 6,100 electricity poles, and destroyed over 2,400 ground satellite receivers; 26,000 hectares [about 64,000 acres] of crops were affected, and 15,000 hectares [about 37,000 acres] suffered serious losses. During the disaster, over 60 people died and hundreds were injured. Nearly 400,000 people were affected.
In the afternoon of August 7, most areas in Qu County suffered an attack of strong winds of 7 to 8 degrees, and some areas had hail with pellets of 1 milliliter in diameter that lasted for half an hour. The wind turned over house roofs, and some trees were and electric poles were uprooted. Over 15,000 electric poles were downed, and 1,700 poles were broken in half. Communication, traffic, and electricity were interrupted for a while. Whole fields of crops, mainly rice, were completely ruined. Among them were 30,000 acres of rice that yielded zero harvest. Sixteen thousand houses collapsed, and a 5-year-old child was hit and killed by a collapsed house.
Beginning at 6 p.m. on August 18, Chengdu City and 13 bordering districts suffered exceptionally heavy rainstorms, which lasted for 20 hours. In Xinjing County, which suffered the most severe rainfall, 200 mm [about 8 inches] of rain fell. In Chengdu City and bordering rural counties, four districts had over 150 mm [about 6 inches] of rainfall. City areas in Chengdu had relatively serious floods. About 1,000 houses collapsed, and 26,390 hectares [about 65,000 acres] of crop fields were affected -- 15,430 hectares [about 38,100 acres] of crop fields suffered serious losses, and 1,070 hectares [about 2,600 acres] of crop fields yielded zero harvests. Dikes were damaged in twelve places over 2.2 kilometers [about 1.4 miles]. Two dams were damaged, and 56 reservoirs were destroyed.
Partial areas in Cangnan County, Wenzhou City, suffered the kind of severe rainstorm that appears about every thirty years, which washed away 21 towns; the affected population reached 210,000. From 8 p.m. on August 3 to 8 a.m. on August 4 -- twelve hours -- Jinxiang, Yishan, and other places in Cangnan County had a rainfall that exceeded 200 mm [nearly 8 inches], and Jinxiang had 227 mm [almost 9 inches]. Four roads were cut off because of landslides caused by the rain; at the same time, 150,000 acres of crop fields were flooded.
Sudden rainstorms in Beijing are very rare. About 8 p.m. on August 24, after thunder and frequent lightning, pedestrians, who didn’t have any time to react, were overwhelmed by sudden rain along with heavy hail. This rainfall in Beijing was very uneven. The rainfall in Qingnian Lake was only 1 milliliter [about .03 inch] but the old observatory had 19 mm [about .75 inch], which fell at the highly unusual rate of 28.6 mm/hour [about 1.13 inches]. What’s more surprising is that the hail broke many street light bulbs on Chang’an Street. According to the recollection of an old street maintenance worker who has worked on Chang’an Street for several decades, hail that destroyed the street light bulbs of Chang’an Street had fallen only once before, in 1968.
These catastrophes are different from ordinary natural disasters, for they happened at unexpected places. In addition, they happened very suddenly, lasted a short time, had tremendous impact, and caused great damage. They were very surprising and are strong warnings and punishment. They force us to recall a heavenly principle: goodness is rewarded with good, and evil meets with punishment. Heaven will do something if human beings don’t. If we look at Beijing, Shandong, Sichuang, Changchun, and the rest, with respect to their inhuman persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners, it’s not hard to understand that these abnormal appearances are merely the manifestation of heavenly principles. These natural disasters have the effect of giving a violent punch to evil people to wake them up and of making kind people feel the power of heaven other than just feeling scared. Heavenly principles are forever heavenly principles; they will not cease just because of human beings’ disbelief.
For the future of your own life, please stop persecuting Falun Dafa.
Translated from:
http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2001/10/9/12016.html
