A person presents their safety code, which has been widely used in Lin'an district, Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, to monitor the safety of local residents who need to be relocated due to flooding. [Photo/hangzhou.zjol.com.cn]

Digital technology has been an important tool for Lin'an district, Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, in combating floods during the lengthy plum rain season, which lasted for 50 days and ended on July 17.

This year's plum rain season saw 788 millimeters of rainfall in Lin'an, 2.8 times more than in previous years. A total of 6,230 local residents were relocated due to a risk of flooding.

An accurate warning system based on digital technology has played an important role in helping the local government deal with the situation.

At the end of 2019, Lin'an began developing an intelligent meteorological warning system with the aim of adding 153 new automatic meteorological observation stations.

Workers build an automatic meteorological observation station in Lin'an district, Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/hangzhou.zjol.com.cn]

The comprehensive meteorological observation network has provided effective and accurate data over the past few weeks. When rainfall reaches a certain level, the system will automatically send messages to officials warning of possible flooding.

Lin'an has also adopted a safety code system, which evolved from the health code system rolled out during the epidemic, to help manage personnel that need to be relocated due to flooding.

The safety code system is able to help officials decide who should be relocated and keep track of the number of people who have not been relocated.

According to Zhao Bin, a top official of Taoyuanxi village, he immediately visited the home of a local resident named Zhang Meilan after receiving a message on July 6 saying the flood bank near Zhang's home had been destroyed by floods.

After Zhang was transferred to a safe location, she had her safety code scanned to prove she was safe. Officials also visited other residents in the flood zone who had not had their safety code scanned.