Dong Qiangqiang's Story of Leaving Germany

Chapter 1107. Flood (Part 1107)

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't you know that Trier is also flooding? Because the water level is rising too fast, Koblenz has declared a state of emergency."

"Oh my god." Dong Qiangqiang exclaimed, "But I can still buy a ticket. If there is really a flood, why would Deutsche Bahn still sell tickets? Besides, no one at the train station told me that I couldn't take the train. Is your information accurate?"

Before Dong Qiangqiang finished speaking, the conductor's deep male voice came from the loudspeaker above his head: "Dear passengers, please note that this train is temporarily suspended due to fallen trees on the tracks ahead. You can choose to stay on the train until we clear the obstacles. You can also choose to follow our crew to leave the carriage in an orderly manner and transfer to other trains at nearby stations. When you leave the carriage, please note that the road is slippery and be careful of the trees on both sides. If you have more questions, please feel free to contact the crew. Thank you for your cooperation."

What bad luck! Dong Qiangqiang said helplessly, "You're right. A tree has fallen onto the tracks. We can either wait for them to saw the tree apart and move it away, or change trains."

"I suggest you change trains as soon as possible, or you'll miss out if you wait."

“I don’t know how far I have to walk to the next station.”

"It's not raining heavily in Luxembourg right now, is it? If you wait for the clouds from Germany to pass by, the rainfall will continue to increase, the trains will stop running completely, and the highways will be blocked, then you won't be able to go back."

"Okay, I'll do as you say. I'll change it right away. Also, Lao Xu just contacted me again. It's nothing important. He asked me to persuade you to say something soft to Mr. Tang and the others so that they can save face and back off."

Lao Bai said something, and Dong Qiangqiang's cell phone began to beep intermittently. Lao Bai's voice sounded very much like the sound produced by a tape recorder when he was a child learning English. It was full of a strange metallic texture.

"What did you say?" Dong Qiangqiang asked, "I didn't hear it clearly."

"I said I'm going to go now... to meet Lao Ding and the others, so that he won't get into trouble... alone. I also have something to discuss with you. By the time I... pick them up, you'll be home... Let's talk in detail. It's raining too hard now, and the signal is not good... The road is too slippery... Shit..."

The call was disconnected before Lao Bai finished his last sentence. Dong Qiangqiang didn't know whether Lao Bai had no signal or he had no signal, or if both of them had no signal.

He followed other passengers who chose to transfer out of the carriage. There were not many people willing to transfer, about 20 to 30 people. The rain at this time was obviously much heavier than in the afternoon in the center of Luxembourg City. Everyone, led by the train attendant, walked to the transfer station, which was said to be not too far away. The waiting room of the transfer station was dilapidated and cramped, as if it had not been maintained for a long time. The wind blew the rain in through the broken windows. Everyone was holding an umbrella or wearing a raincoat, huddled together in the wet. The floor was dirty, except for the messy mud footprints and puddles of water. Everyone's face was written with disappointment and uneasiness. Some people silently watched the wind and rain outside the window, and some tried to make the only spherical TV no longer play only snowflakes. Dong Qiangqiang and more people sat under the indoor speakers, concentrating on understanding the situation outside through the railway broadcast.

The meteorological department reported that the sudden and continuous heavy rainfall over a large area, local rainstorms and extreme thunderstorms were the main causes of floods from south to north in Germany. The flood disaster in some southern regions was between level one and level two, and the severity of floods in some areas even reached the level three disaster, which is the largest flood disaster Germany has encountered in recent decades. Although the situation in northern Germany is better than in the south, it is also not optimistic. In North Rhine-Westphalia alone, more than 140 stations and more than 700 kilometers of railway sections were destroyed, and these figures are only temporary. Luxembourg is separated from Germany by a fence, and it is inevitable that it was also affected by the heavy rain.

The floods that swept through Germany caused serious damage and casualties. More than 40 railway lines, including urban express trains and regional trains, were forced to be interrupted, and normal traffic operations were severely restricted. Thousands of railway company employees are risking their lives to repair the relevant railways. Railway companies will also increase buses to replace trains in some areas. At the same time, many highways, national roads and even county roads have blocked potentially dangerous sections for safety reasons. As for when traffic can be fully restored, no one knows.

Many important rivers in Germany, such as the Rhine, Danube, Elbe, Spree and their tributaries, have experienced dangerous water surges. Due to the high water levels, some areas have even experienced dike breaches. Cruise ships sailing on many rivers dare not easily let passengers disembark. In the southern mountainous areas, heavy rains have exacerbated the risk of landslides, and some people have been struck by lightning. Dozens of towns and cities across Germany have declared a state of emergency due to heavy rains, dike breaches and landslides. Thousands of residents have been evacuated, but the number of domestic and international travelers trapped by floods in the country is incalculable. Due to the fierce water, the relevant rescue departments have begun to use all forces, including fire trucks, ambulances, rescue boats and helicopters, to carry out rescue operations.

The heavy rains for several consecutive days not only hit Germany hard, but also several Central and Eastern European countries were not immune. Most of the towns were flooded, roads were destroyed, public transportation was completely paralyzed, large-scale power outages occurred in cities, and thousands of people were evacuated urgently. Similar scenes were also staged one after another in these countries.

  While the people at the front were busy with various rescue operations, the people at the back were also busy. On the radio, experts gathered to discuss why a nationwide flood exposed Germany's true colors. In addition to criticizing the weather bureau and the flood warning agencies of various states for being slow to react, there were also more and more voices criticizing the relevant departments for not doing enough to rescue. Some experts even questioned during the discussion: If Germany couldn't even respond to floods efficiently, and if it really encountered an infectious disease like SARS that no one had ever seen before, could Germany really handle it better than China at the time?

The experts and audience present all seemed more or less unsure about answering this question.

Everyone waited in the waiting room for nearly an hour. The rain outside the window became more and more fierce. The sharp rain lines with a metallic luster did not cut through the black curtain-like sky, but cut off the fresh green leaves on the treetops outside the station and the branches as thick as chopsticks, and sank them into the dust and mud.

An old-fashioned train, which seemed to be quite old, slowly came towards the station from the rain while everyone was getting anxious and looking forward to it. As soon as the train stopped, everyone hurriedly rushed to the train carrying their luggage soaked by the rain.

However, the good times did not last long. Just when Dong Qiangqiang thought that he could get home if he just held on a little longer, the train stopped less than one kilometer away from Wasserbillig, a small town in Luxembourg very close to Trier. It was still the familiar sound and the familiar content: due to the railway being washed away, many facilities including signal devices, railway bridges, and switches were severely damaged by the flood. The train could no longer move forward. The conductor suggested that everyone evacuate in an orderly manner under the premise of safety.

The train journey usually only takes half an hour, but this time it took Dong Qiangqiang nearly two hours and he still hasn't reached Trier train station.

After getting off the train, Dong Qiangqiang seemed to have entered another world in an instant.

The yellow-brown flood roared towards the bridge hole not far away, and a wooden sleeper drifted helplessly in the flood.

(End of this chapter)