The second highest rainfall that has inundated China in more than half a century has raised new questions about the world’s largest hydroelectric facility, seen as a help to tame flood waters.
Since last month, at least 141 people have died and around 28,000 homes have been damaged in the Yangtze River region, affecting virtually all of mainland China.
Deputy Minister of Emergency Management Zheng Guoguang told reporters on Monday that the Yangtze, the longest river in Asia, and parts of its basin have seen the second highest rainfall since 1961 in the past six months.
But after weeks of devastating flooding, questions are being raised about the impact of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze floods and whether the massive structure itself could be at risk.
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“One of the main justifications for the Three Gorges Dam was flood control, but less than 20 years after its completion we have the highest flood water in recorded history,” David Shankman, geographer at the University of Alabama studying Chinese floods. . “The fact is, you can’t prevent these severe events.”
The Three Gorges Dam is flooding. Yichang City, Hubei Province, China, July 2. The dam has come under new scrutiny after devastating floods in recent weeks.
(Costfoto / Barcroft Media via Getty Images)
The Three Gorges Dam was officially completed in 2006. Its electrical operation became operational in 2012, and it is one of the most expensive and questionable development projects in China.
Some 1.4 million people had to be resettled as a result of the great project on the Yangtze River.
In this aerial photo released by the Xinhua News Agency, a village is flooded in Sanjiao Township in Yongxiu County in east China’s Jiangxi Province on July 13.
(Zhang Haobo / Xinhua via AP)
The dam was also touted as the best way to end centuries of flooding along the Yangtze and provide power for China’s industrial boom. But some geologists argued that holding too much water in the reservoir carried an increased risk of earthquakes and prolonged damage to the river’s ecology.
Rescuers evacuate residents on a raft through the floods in Jiujiang, in central China’s Jiangxi province, on July 8.
(Chinatopix via AP)
In 2012, the Ministry of Land Resources said the number of landslides and other disasters around the reservoir increased 70 percent after the water level in the $ 23 billion project peaked in 2010.
Critics of the project, such as Chinese geologist Fan Xiao, have said that Three Gorges and other major dam projects can make flooding worse by altering the flow of sediment downstream. He told Reuters that at Three Gorges, storage capacity amounts to less than 9 percent of the average flood.
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“It can only partially and temporarily intercept upstream floods, and cannot help with flooding caused by heavy rains in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River,” he said.
In this photo released by the Xinhua News Agency, a man paddles an inflatable boat in front of submerged cars during a flood in Rongshui County, south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on July 11.
(Long Linzhi / Xinhua via AP)
The damage caused by this season’s floods has been estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars, putting further pressure on an economy deeply affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Residents swim in front of a flooded riverside pavilion by the flooded Yangtze River in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province, on July 8.
(Chinatopix via AP)
The Hubei province, through which the Yangtze flows, is known for its many lakes and rivers and is particularly threatened. The province’s capital, Wuhan, was the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in China.
In this photo released by the Xinhua News Agency, Chinese paramilitary police line up to move sandbags to reinforce a levee along the shores of Lake Poyang in Poyang County in east China’s Jiangxi Province, the 12th of July.
(Cao Xianxun / Xinhua via AP)
On Friday, a resident in Wuhan south of the dam posted a video showing that the Yangtze River was well above average, even though it had not recently rained, the Nikki Asian Review reported.
Residents in the Yangtze River basin in recent weeks have expressed concern about the massive dam’s ability to handle more heavy rains, despite authorities having been releasing water from the structure.
State media said last week that since June 29, the outflow from the Three Gorges Dam has been controlled at an average daily rate of 11,517 square feet per second, reducing up to 30 percent of the maximum discharge of the Yangtze.
CGTN stated that “it effectively eased the pressure of flood control in the middle and lower reaches of the river.”
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Chinese state media dismissed the concerns as “promoted by some Western media,” and the Global Times claimed the dam can reach a water level “once in a millennium” at 175 meters or a flow of up to 70,000 cubic meters per second. .
The company that runs the Three Gorges Project said Saturday that downstream water discharges had been cut in half since July 6, “effectively reducing the speed and extent of water level in the middle and lower reaches. of the Yangtze. “
The total amount of flood water stored had now reached 88 percent of the reservoir’s total capacity, he added.
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But critics of the controversial project remain skeptical.
“In hindsight, I think all the experts who opposed the construction of the Three Gorges were right,” said Zhang Jianping, an activist in Jiangsu, on Radio Free Asia. “Since its construction, it has never played a role in preventing floods or droughts, as we thought it would back then.”
Associated Press contributed to this report.
