Chapter 300: Chapter 152: The Power of Nature

Just as the county magistrate of Gauhati was praising this self-rescue guide.

Suddenly, a dark figure burst out from the water ahead, and in a flash, it was on top of the car, stepping on the hood.

Thud, thud…

Listening to the footsteps coming from the roof, the three of them turned pale with fear.

“What… what on earth is that thing?”

“Don’t worry, it’s just a leopard.”

As soon as Gu Ji finished speaking, a paw with sharp claws slapped against the passenger-side window, startling the magistrate so much that he dropped his phone on the ground, “When a leopard chooses to harass humans at this moment, it’s either for food or for help.”

Sure enough, after harassing them for half a minute.

Seeing no reaction from inside the car, it leaped from the roof and landed on the trunk of a neem tree beside the road.

Only then did the three see clearly that it really was a leopard, but due to the torrential rain, it was drenched, its fur clinging to its skin, looking utterly desolate, only able to watch helplessly as Gu Ji drove further away.

Approaching noon.

Gu Ji finally saw the “Gauhati” sign on the road.

The magistrate and the other two breathed a sigh of relief as if a weight had been lifted, but before they could revel in their relief, “splash, splatter,” the pooled water on the road splashed up again. Just as they thought it was some other animals, it turned out to be fish heads that burst out of the water!

Gu Ji frowned, sensing something was wrong.

He could understand animals fleeing from the forests near the waterways to escape the flood, but if fish appeared in towns or on roads, it meant the river had already backflowed.

He drove on for a while longer, and the water level on the road continued to rise, completely submerging the hood.

It should be noted that whether it’s India’s state-level gravel roads or domestic provincial roads, they are built on embankments to ensure the roads are as level as possible, facilitating smooth and safe vehicle movement, and to support the load requirements for vehicular traffic, so the terrain is often higher than the surrounding land.

Even the roads are like this, imagine how high the water level is in the wild lands on both sides.

The magistrate also noticed that the town in the distance seemed even more blurred than when they left during the day, and in a panic, he urged Gu Ji to drive towards the airport.

Airports are often situated on high ground because landing a plane in low areas is like landing it in a bowl, where surrounding buildings act as the bowl’s edge, affecting visibility during landing and increasing safety risks; furthermore, airport runways often have a slight incline.

As the vehicle continued to move forward.

Gu Ji’s gaze first met the mountains on the horizon, presumably the ranges across the Brahmaputra River; he vaguely remembered that his father’s previous accident occurred on the opposite side, in northern Assam.

Hence, he pretended to ask casually:

“I heard there was a plane crash on the opposite side recently. What happened afterward?”

“The investigation ended long ago, the accident location and all the bodies were found, and our county even dispatched a team of firefighters to support; however, the military handled the follow-up.”

The magistrate of Gauhati thought for a moment.

Why is it the military again?

Gu Ji now gets a headache just hearing those two words.

After driving another kilometer, they finally saw Gauhati in its entirety. Compared to DisPur, the former is smaller, with a population of just over 120,000. The parks and wastelands in the town had already been flooded long ago, with only the orange tiles of some low-standing bungalows visible.

The area near the airport was noticeably busier.

Just like the hospital entrance before, a large number of vehicles gathered around the airport, making traffic jams impenetrable. Many vehicles had already broken down, mostly belonging to middle-class families and above from Gauhati or nearby towns, presumably trying to flee by plane.

“Has the airport not been closed?”

“Currently, due to weather conditions, the airline issued aviation control, and all flights are canceled or put on hold.”

While the magistrate was answering, he seemed to notice something, hurriedly waving for Gu Ji to make a turn.

Following his direction, Gu Ji noticed a large red fire truck pulling two orange inflatable boats behind it, with many Indian firefighters and police wearing blue and black reflective uniforms sitting on them.

My goodness.

These guys have already started rowing boats within the town…

Indeed, given the current water levels, boats do seem more effective than cars in some places.

As the vehicle got closer, the magistrate rolled down the window and shouted, “Shukla, did you ignore my order from this morning? I told you to handle the disaster in town, why are you loitering near the airport?”

“Magistrate?”

A middle-aged man leading the inflatable boat paused for a moment, quickly responding, “Report, magistrate, there’s been a landslide near Nizapur. We received the alarm and are preparing to rush for rescue.”

“A landslide?”

The magistrate’s heart skipped a beat, instinctively glancing at Gu Ji.

Unexpectedly, the crisis management meeting prediction came true.

Compared to the rise in water levels caused by torrential rain, the difficulty of searching and rescuing in landslides is much higher because landslides involve a large accumulation of mud and stones, so besides dispatching lighting, chemical defense, emergency rescue, logistics support vehicles, and large transport vehicles, cranes, loaders, excavators, and debris clearing vehicles might be needed if the accident site is severe, which is quite troublesome, let alone the current widespread flooding that could cause breakdowns at any point.

More seriously, landslides not only cause casualties and property loss within a certain range but also pose a severe threat to nearby road traffic.

Assam has only a few roads to begin with, and if the traffic collapses, as Gu Ji said, it would be a real disaster.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep