Chapter 13 Suicheng

It was around nine o'clock in the evening when Zheng Feifei and Shu Fu sent messages complaining that they might have to sleep in the company tonight. At that time, Shu Fu had already drawn the bedroom curtains and lay down on her soft and warm bed.

As the day's use of the Drifting Island House was coming to an end, she tried not to put away the raft and waited quietly for the countdown to end.

As the countdown behind the cabin door reached zero, she felt her feet go empty and she fell from the cabin on the raft into her own living room.

Therefore, after the usage time is over, no matter if there is anyone in the house, the raft will be forcibly retracted. If the raft was originally on the water, she would fall directly into the water.

Shu Fu sighed, stood up and turned on the power in the house, then closed the floor-length curtains in the balcony sliding door, turned on a dim yellow floor lamp in the living room, put the pots and tableware temporarily placed on the small bar counter into the bathroom, turned on the small light on the kitchen range hood, and then quickly cleaned the pots and tableware from dinner.

Afterwards, she went into the bathroom and took a quick hot shower.

The tap water in such old buildings is very slow, but the water pipes of the gas water heater are equipped with a water pressure booster, which makes the water boil quickly and the water flow very strong. The warm water feels very comfortable when it rushes over the body.

Shu Fu also sighed after taking a shower. The weather today had obviously become worse. He didn't know how long he could enjoy the life of having electricity, gas and hot water whenever he wanted.

She blow-dried her hair, turned off all the lights outside, checked the doors and windows again, and then snuggled into bed to check her phone.

The Internet is now full of speeches and videos of exclamations and wailing, and several short video websites are flooded with words such as thunderstorm and large hail.

Except for Suicheng and several large and small counties near Suicheng, several cities in the southeastern region of Hua State today have suffered thunderstorms and hail that are rarely seen in a century. Although some coastal cities have not suffered hail and thunderstorms, they have been hit by typhoons and rainstorms, and the degree of damage to buildings and glass windows is no less than that in Suicheng.

The Suicheng thunderstorm disaster warning occurred during the time when people were getting off work and out of school, and many people have been trapped in their original buildings since then.

The nearly three-hour thunderstorm and the large hailstorms that raged in various parts of Suicheng damaged a lot of things. The windows of many people's cars parked on the road were shattered, and various objects that fell from high places appeared on the ground. In addition, there were still strong winds and heavy rains outside, and the transportation facilities had long been suspended. Many people had no way to go home under such circumstances.

Zheng Feifei sent a message: My parents told me not to go back yet. Although it is uncomfortable to stay in the company for a night, it is at least safer. It is pitch black outside, and there are falling objects from buildings from time to time...

Zheng Feifei is a local, and her home is not far from her company. She usually takes 20 minutes to go to work by subway, and walks home from the subway station in about 10 minutes. But now that the subway has stopped running, it sounds unsafe to walk, and she has to accept the reality no matter how reluctant she is.

She and Shu Fu complained that they had only had a bowl of instant noodles for dinner and were now eating biscuits, feeling hungry and sleepy. Other colleagues in the company were discussing how to arrange a resting place for tonight. After all, there were many stranded people and there were limited sofas in the lounge and conference room. Most people could only sleep on the floor or curl up in their seats.

She regretted not listening to Shu Fu's advice and asking for leave. If she had known that the weather would be so bad recently, she would have asked for leave even if her supervisor would make a note of it!

Her residential complex is relatively new and the buildings are sturdy. Plus, she lives on a lower floor - the second floor - so she managed to survive the hailstorm intact this time.

She was originally worried about her parents, but now she was worried about herself.

If she had listened to Shu Fu, asked for leave a day earlier and bought more different kinds of takeout at home, she would definitely be curled up on the sofa comfortably eating duck wings, watching TV series on her tablet, surfing the Internet on her mobile phone, and eating a few bites of fruit peeled by her mother. No matter how windy and rainy it was outside, it would have nothing to do with her.

Shufu sent a message: You can go downstairs and take a look. Our company's building is actually quite diverse. There are nail salons and beauty salons. Usually these shops have beauty beds that you can sleep on. If a store clerk happens to be stranded in the store, he or she can pay some money to stay there for a night.

Zheng Feifei: ! ! Why didn’t I think of that!

She blew Shu Fu a series of kisses. Shu Fu smiled and told her to bring one or two female colleagues with her, bring their cell phones and power banks, and not take the elevator.

The mobile phone can be used as a flashlight, and the power bank can ensure that the mobile phone has power. It is safer to walk up the stairs in heavy rain.

At the same time as Zheng Feifei was messaging, Wu Shaoshan in the roommate group also sent a message. Shortly after her, Zhang Tian also sent one, with a [smile] emoticon attached.

Both of them posted videos.

Wu Shaoshan and Chen Fa were not so lucky. Although the conditions of the community where they shared the house were better than those of Shu Fu, the house was on the fourth floor and the window glass was ordinary glass, which could not escape the hail. Two pieces of glass were broken in the south-facing living room window. Now rainwater was leaking all over the floor, and the living room looked miserable.

In fact, not long after Chen Fa called to talk about the subway incident that day, Shu Fu said in the group that she had asked someone to reinforce the windows. Because she couldn't mention the disaster, she only took a video of her own small balcony, saying that the upper half was all glass and felt brittle and unsafe, so she had asked a master to come to her house to measure the size and install tempered laminated glass.

Because the others had not yet recovered from the underground garage incident that they had just experienced with her, her mentioning it at this time was like a psychological hint, and everyone felt insecure when they looked at their own windows.

The next day, Chen Fa and Wu Shaoshan asked someone to come to the house to measure the dimensions and prepare for reinforcement.

Zhang Tian lives in an upscale residential area, a small high-rise building, and her home is on the 20th floor. Such high-rise buildings generally use tempered glass, which is very sturdy. After she told her parents about it, they felt that there was no need for reinforcement.

But what no one expected was that the extreme weather came so quickly, and the hailstones this time were as big as eggs, and some even reached eight or nine centimeters in diameter, which was fatal to buildings, especially glass.

Zhang Tian's family has two houses. The new one is in the same residential area as her parents'. After the purchase, she has been renovating it gradually. She originally planned to move in. Later, she met a scumbag and planned to get married. She planned to use it as a wedding house. Now that the scumbag cheated, the plan was naturally abandoned.

The glass in the high-end residential area is all tempered, and there was nothing wrong with the new house. But she didn't know if it was because the floor was too high or for some other reason, the window frames of the outward-opening windows were leaking. Blocking them with towels was useless, and water flowed from the leaking place like a gushing faucet. The master bedroom in the house was also a disaster scene.

The main reason Wu Shaoshan posted this video was to lament that she and Chen Fa had bad luck. They had already hired someone to reinforce the structure, but the bad weather came before the glass was even installed.

Zhang Tian laughed at herself, saying that the glass in her house was strong enough, but she was still unlucky.

The only thing they could be thankful for was that when Suicheng issued a thunderstorm warning, Chen Fa and Wu Shaoshan had already returned home from get off work, and Zhang Tian did not go to the milk tea shop. It was a blessing in disguise.

Due to the recent continuous thunderstorms, hail and heavy rain, a large number of out-of-town tourists are stranded near the station and airport in Suicheng. The previous wave of tourists stranded due to the thunderstorm on Sunday have not yet arranged flights or transportation to leave, and today a new group of people are stranded, including many Suicheng people who originally planned to travel to other places.

There have been a lot of related news on the Internet these two days. The airports and train stations are very chaotic, and there are many people who are worse off than them.

Moreover, after today's disaster, most companies and schools in Suicheng issued emergency suspension of work and classes notices in the group. They don't have to go to work for the next few days, so at least they have time to deal with the mess at home.

Shu Fu thought for a moment and sent a message: If the rain stops tomorrow and it's safe outside, go to the nearby supermarket and buy more water.

They thought it was normal to mention such things at this time. After all, bad weather and supplies have always been standard.

**

The next morning, the rain was indeed lighter.

The sky was overcast and rainy. Looking out the window, Suicheng seemed to have become dilapidated and miserable overnight. The trees and shrubs were beaten to pieces and had lost their branches. The ground was covered with branches, leaves, and building debris.

Some low-lying areas in the city have begun to accumulate water, with a depth of more than 20 centimeters. The area covered is not large, but the muddy water is mixed with broken branches, glass shards and broken metal, making it difficult for some people to travel.

Almost none of the vehicles parked in the open air under buildings or on the road were intact, with either broken windows or dented roofs.

Some people cannot see the situation in their own buildings, but they can see the situation in the buildings opposite the same community through the windows and are shocked.

Except for the lower floors such as the first and second floors where some windows could still be found, the glass windows of every household on other floors were shattered to pieces. Some windows even had their frames knocked off, revealing a bare black hole, which was temporarily blocked by cabinets used by the people inside.

Of course, not all residents on the lower floors were lucky. There were trees growing not far from someone's window, and the broken branches directly pierced the windows of the lower-floor homes under the influence of the strong wind. The broken glass and broken branches made the house a mess.

The people of Suicheng, who had no experience in dealing with hail, were dumbfounded. Where should they start to deal with this tragic situation?

But after just one week, some people have already started to miss the previous heat.

Although the daily high temperature of 35 to 40 degrees is very torturous, everyone has a car for travel now, whether it is a private car or public transportation, as long as you get in the car, there is air conditioning.

The air conditioning is set very low in offices, schools and all kinds of commercial places. As long as you don't deliberately go outside into the heat wave, the hot weather will not have much impact.

But now, work and school have been suspended and everything has been forced to come to a halt.

"This weather is so horrible! When will this damn rain stop?" Someone was cleaning up the mess at home while turning on the local TV news to keep an eye on what was happening outside.

Some people were worried and frantically went online to complain and seek comfort, but they were frightened by the pictures and videos in various posts that were even more terrifying than the disaster situation around their own homes.

You know, thunderstorms, hail, strong winds, and heavy rains will bring many related disasters. High-rise buildings in cities are generally quite sturdy, and most of the broken parts are glass windows or temporary awnings and eaves.

In the suburban county towns, many houses were built by themselves, and many people’s houses were half collapsed, and there were problems with the water pipes and electrical wires.

Landslides and muddy mountain roads blocked traffic, and even worse happened: farmland and greenhouse vegetable fields were damaged by hail, and greenhouses were smashed, causing farmers to suffer heavy losses.

Meanwhile, some people on the Internet are cheering for the suspension of work and classes. In their minds, the disaster will eventually pass, and only a small number of people will be unlucky and it will not affect them, but the holiday is real.

The windows of the buildings where these people usually live have not been seriously damaged. They still have the leisure to post photos or videos of yesterday's thunderstorms and hail on their Moments and social media networks. They hang out in various groups like crazy, reading and forwarding all kinds of messages.

Of course, there are also some people who are still clear-headed and feel uneasy after looking through the various pictures and videos of disaster scenes in Suicheng and surrounding counties.

Although Suicheng is not a first-tier city, it is also a modern city. The sewage drainage system has always been in good condition. Despite several strong winds and rainstorms in previous years, there has been no water accumulation.

But now, not only are some areas flooded with water more than 20 centimeters deep, but people have also taken photos of several flooded underground bridge tunnels and subway stations in the city.

The situation at the subway station was a bit scary. The ground at the bottom level of the subway station had disappeared. Looking down from the stairs, it looked like a vast ocean, and the rainwater on the ground continued to flow down the steps, threatening to flood the entire subway station.

Although the rain has subsided now, experts believe that this wave of rainfall still shows no signs of passing and there will still be heavy rain in the next 48 hours.

—We won’t end up having a flood here like we did in August, will we?

——Will there be a flood in Suicheng? I don’t think there has ever been one!

——Yes, our place is considered a Feng Shui treasure land. There are no earthquakes, floods, typhoons, and there has never been any hail.

——Upstairs, except for the earthquake, we seem to have encountered all the disasters you mentioned this week...

——We didn’t encounter everything. At most, there was hail. Typhoons are not so gentle. The floods were not that bad. There were only a few low-lying places with water accumulation. Isn’t that normal? Most places are fine!

——No, I think I should go out for a while and buy some more food and drinks at the supermarket to keep at home, so that if something really happens, I won’t be so panicked!

——Is the supermarket open today? Aren’t jobs and schools closed?

——Supermarkets are a livelihood service industry. Even if some private grocery stores and small supermarkets are closed, medium and large supermarkets will definitely be open. After all, they are needed for daily life. If they are closed at this time, where can people buy groceries? I saw many riders delivering takeout and supermarket orders on the road!

——【Picture】【Picture】【Picture】I am in a supermarket. The glass here is quite solid, and there is nothing wrong with the building's exterior. There are so many people inside, and many people are pushing carts full of things. Some shelves cannot be restocked in time. Fortunately, I came with my parents. I am tall and can get goods from the high shelves!

——Oh my god! What’s going on? What time is it? The supermarket just opened? Why are there so many people?

——I’m in the supermarket too! Everyone is taking things as if they’re free, it’s scary…

——Didn’t you receive the notice? There will still be heavy rainfall in Suicheng and surrounding cities in the next 48 hours. An orange rainstorm warning has been issued. The maximum rainfall in 24 hours is expected to reach 200 mm! Citizens are required to buy the drinking water they need and stay at home for the next few days. Evacuation work has already begun in some low-lying waterlogged areas!

——Why can’t I receive it? How’s the signal there? My internet speed is intermittent. Did the hail yesterday damage some of the network base stations?

——Same! The signal here is not good either, I just climbed up!

——Those who did not receive the evacuation message are the lucky ones. There was flooding near my house last night and everyone evacuated this morning!

——200mm of rainfall!? If I remember correctly, how much rainfall was there in the previous few days? 60 or 70?

——I remember that the highest rainfall in one day was 58 mm.

——Oh my god, what does 200 mm of rainfall look like? No, I have to ask my parents to go to the supermarket immediately!

…

Shu Fu did not join the rush to buy.

She has stockpiled almost all the things that need to be stockpiled. The space is limited, and she cannot stockpile all the rice and vegetables she will need for a lifetime. The food and water supplies in the space are enough for a long time, not to mention that she still has the golden finger of lottery.

She will definitely complete the tasks to upgrade the raft progress bar, and there will be opportunities to draw lots in the future to replenish supplies to a certain extent.

So at this time, she didn't plan to go out and grab supplies with others. She was just a little worried about the progress bar tasks later. She might be prompted with tasks that required her to go out when it was stormy outside and she couldn't go out at all.

Sure enough, twenty minutes later, the bracelet vibrated and a new raft progress task arrived.