Torrential rains have caused water levels at the massive Three Gorges Dam in China on the Yangtze River to rise again to record levels, according to news reports Saturday.
China has been hit by a series of floods in the past year that have killed hundreds of people and displaced millions, especially in the center of the country and in the southwest.
Rainfall in the Yangtze Basin has been twice as heavy as normal this year and resulting floods have caused at least $ 26 billion in economic damage and affected up to 63 million people, Reuters reported Saturday.
About 75,000 cubic meters per second of water flowed out of the Yangtze River on Thursday, pushing the depths of the reservoir nearly 20 meters higher than the official warning level.
“They will do everything they can to prevent the dam from overflowing,” said Desiree Tullos, a professor at Oregon State University who is studying the Three Gorges project.
“A dam for trespassing is a scenario at least, because it throws up significant damage … and can lead to the whole thing collapsing.”
The Three Gorges project was completed in 2012. It was aimed at both the rise of power and purification in the devastated Yangtze, the cause of many terrible floods in Chinese history.
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