The Three Gorges Dam, China’s largest, is on high alert as floods triggered by torrential rains wreak havoc in the southwestern part of the country.
Record rainfall in Chongqing has caused flooding in a dozen districts and counties since Thursday, raising the water levels in 29 rivers, state news agency Xinhua reported.
Six people have died in the region which has received over 250mm of rain, according to the Chongqing Hydrological Monitoring Station.
An aerial drone showed a township submerged in muddy waters.
Dianjiang county in Chongqing received 269.2mm of rain on Thursday, the highest in a single day ever.
The rains have affected over 40,000 people, forced the evacuation of several areas and damaged 1,800 hectares of crops, CCTV reported.
An aerial photo shows residents being evacuated from a flooded area in Dianjiang in southwestern China's Chongqing municipality on 11 July 2024 An aerial photo shows residents being evacuated from a flooded area in Dianjiang in southwestern China's Chongqing municipality on 11 July 2024 (AFP via Getty) The rains and subsequent flooding have also disrupted operations at the Chongqing railway station, leading to the suspension of 26 train journeys on Thursday.
The Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters on Thursday raised the flood emergency response to level 3 in the four-tier response system in which level 1 is the most severe.
“As flood preparedness and response enter a critical period, we should strengthen warnings and monitoring and timely evacuate people in areas at risk of geological disasters,” Chongqing’s mayor, Hu Henghua, said on Thursday. “It’s better to be extra careful to prevent any potential losses.”
Rescue workers move residents out of a flooded area in Dianjiang, Chongqing Rescue workers move residents out of a flooded area in Dianjiang, Chongqing (AFP via Getty) Authorities are also facing challenges along the Yangtze river basin as the water level in the Three Gorges Dam reservoir has risen to 161.1 metres, the highest ever in July, according to China’s Ministry of Water Resources.
Heavy rainfall is anticipated in the upper reaches of the river over the next 10 days, with a new round of floods expected to flow into the reservoir around 16 July, Changjiang Water Resource Commission said.
A flood with a peak flow of 45,000 cubic metres per second is forecasted to enter the reservoir on Friday, and two other significant water surges are expected in mid-July.
Speaking of Taiwan, a year or so back I read something (please don't ask for a source, I've long forgotten where I read this) that said Taiwan has developed approx. 1,000 missiles specifically designed to strike the 3GD and other upstream dams to create nationwide havoc if China ever invaded Taiwan.
I wouldn't put it past Taiwan (or any small nation) if their very existence was threatened. Taiwan might lose in an invasion, but China would pay a terrible price for it.
Of course. It’s an insurance policy. And China knows it. The damage would be akin to lobbing a nuke, or worse. I don’t know what they were thinking with that idiotic dam.
CCP knows everything is corrupt. They know a project that big is going to be riddled with corruption from top to bottom. Shitty steel, shitty concrete, swapped materials, shortcuts. Every vendor or contractor at every level is trying to get their piece of the pie. I would be shocked if 20% of the building material was the specification called for.
They already admitted it’s a 100 year dam not a thousand. Which is quite an admission. XI and the top elite are so desperate for clout, so desperate to show the world how advanced China is, they built a guillotine over 500 million people.
One day, that piece of shit is gonna fail. Likely in our lifetime. The damage is going to be biblical. Like nothing anyone has seen in hundred or thousands of years. The amount of people who live in the flood path below it is more than the entire population of the US.
Idiots. They did it to themselves. The Chinese never ending quest to convince themselves they are superior to the west.
Right you are. They built a sketchy dangling Sword of Damocles over 400 million people, 114 towns, and 1,680 villages along the river banks below the dam. GREAT JOB, China, just a GREAT JOB.