Drones were employed to airdrop food and water to teachers and students who were trapped in flooded campus after heavy rainfall from Typhoon Saudel in Wenzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province, on Wednesday morning.
Saudel, the 18th typhoon of this year, made landfall twice along the coast of Zhejiang last Friday.
Extreme downpours caused rapid flooding at a low-lying vocational school in Cangnan County, Wenzhou, stranding more than 2,500 teachers and students on campus.
Following the emergency, local authorities immediately activated rescue operations. On Wednesday morning, multiple medium- and large-sized heavy-lift drones, loaded with urgently needed supplies including food and drinking water, were deployed to reach the designated safety zone on campus.
The timely airdrop brought essential supplies to stranded teachers and students, while also buying precious time for subsequent relief work such as drainage, sludge removal, and personnel resettlement.
In addition, persistent heavy rain triggered rockfalls and landslides along the road to a remote mountain village in Rui'an, another city in Zhejiang. Debris from the slopes piled up on the pavement, completely blocking the only route into the village.
Local authorities have coordinated with emergency response departments and planned to carry out debris removal immediately after the rain weakens, so as to reopen the road as soon as possible.
According to local officials, emergency relocation of villagers was quickly completed after the flood warning, and no one is trapped on the mountain.
Furthermore, the latest meteorological forecast shows that due to the combined effects of multiple previous typhoons and persistent heavy rainfall, the soil moisture content in the mountains has become highly saturated. As a result, the risk of secondary disasters such as collapses and landslides along slopes remains rather high.
Drones rush emergency supplies to flood-stranded teachers, students in Zhejiang
