Water levels at China's giant Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze river are inching closer to their maximum after torrential rains raised inflows to a record high, official data showed on Friday.
With 75,000 cubic metres per second of water flowing in from the Yangtze River on Thursday, the reservoir's depth had reached 165.6 metres (543 feet) by Friday morning, up more than two metres (6.6 feet) overnight and almost 20 metres (65.6 feet) higher than the official warning level.
The maximum designed depth of China's largest reservoir is 175 metres (574 feet).
Authorities raised the discharge volume to a record 48,800 cubic metres per second on Thursday to try and lower water levels, and they might have to increase it again to avoid the possibility of a dangerous overflow.
Wuhan, Nanjing, and Shanghai are all downstream...
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Saturday August 22 2020, @02:31AM (2 children)
It's a long, LONG way from the dam to Wuhan. I was just looking around, it's claimed that about 400,000 people live in the Yangze watershed. A catastrophic failure of the Three Gorges would be one of the ugliest disasters we have ever witnessed. Entire towns and cities immediately downstream would be swept away entirely. Further downstream - like 100 miles - cities would still be crippled. It's hard to say how far down you would have to be to be relatively safe. Likely more than 200 miles. There are a LOT of people in the danger zone.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Sulla on Saturday August 22 2020, @04:35AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjHWkCdZdOE [youtube.com]
See the above simulation. Horrifying.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 22 2020, @05:40PM
Live webcam from China. Shocking!
https://youtu.be/DNJfC9qtRuE?t=67 [youtu.be]