UPDATE 7/28/10 - New Flood Surge Hits the Three Gorges - Video at link also.
UPDATE 7/27/10 - Wednesday, Flood Peak is going to be against the Three Gorges Dam. Now 823 Dead and 437 Missing from the Floods.
UPDATE 7/26/10 - More water is about to go against Dam, after a 3 day lull. The water is expected to exceed the previous high water amount behind it, as they brace for More Flooding.
UPDATE 7/24/10 - Officials keep changing how much water the Three Gorges Dam can Hold Back. First it was a 10000 year flood, then 1000 year floods, now 100 year floods. It is Still raining and more water is expected against the dam.
Portion of article:
Seven years ago, Chinese officials boasted the dam could withstand floods so severe they come only once every 10,000 years.
But as the current flooding in central China _ especially along the country's largest river, the Yangtze _ shows no sign of waning, officials now warn the dam's capacity is limited.
Since the completion of the Three Gorges Dam in 2006, confidence in its flood capacity has diminished.
In 2007, officials said the dam could withstand the worst flood in 1,000 years.
Then on Tuesday, the Three Gorges Corporation's chairman, Cao Guangjing, told China Daily he can "absolutely guarantee" the dam can withstand the worst flood in 100 years.
UPDATE 7/23/10 - Floods leave 742 Dead 367 missing - 670000 homes wiped out - affecting 120 million
This is just horrible!
FYI - The most flood waters against the dam are expected today.
UPDATE 7/22/10 - Dam Holding back 40% of Flood Waters
The Dam is holding back 40% of the Flood waters from what this article above says. So, how much water is against it, putting pressure on it? Also something I am noticing of all the pictures released.... ONLY the side that is releasing water is shown, no picture shows how high the water is on the upper side of the dam.
UPDATE 7/22/10 - 701 People have been killed in the floods - 7 million hectares of Farm Land has been affected and 645000 homes have been destroyed! This is just sickening!
UPDATE 7/21/10 Three Gorges Holding UP - Most water expected against it on Friday.
The discharge of the Three Gorges Dam was raised to 40,000 cubic meters every second at 10 am and will remain at that level for the coming days, Chen said.
"The peak flow is high, but it has not exceeded the designed capacity that can bear the flood flow of 98,800 cubic meters every second," he said.
On Tuesday, the water level of the dam reached 150 meters, about five meters higher than the warning level, China Central Television reported.
The maximum water level of the dam is expected to reach 158 meters on Friday and the water volume stored will reach seven billion cubic meters, according to authorities at the Yangtze River flood control headquarters.
UPDATE 7/20/10 China Closing Three Gorges Dam, Shipping Locks due to the Water level - highest Ever!
This is one previous post I have done about The Three Gorges Dam, and the original extensive Research I have done about it.
Updates on Three Gorges Dam
Just one Article out Today of Two about the Three Gorges Dam.
Three Gorges Faces Biggest Challenge EVER.
The China Three Gorges Corporation forecast that floods as huge as those in 1998 will occur.
The peak flow of the coming flood has been forecast at 70,000 cubic meters a second, greater than the 50,000 cubic meters a second during the flood in 1998, when 4,150 people were killed and 18.4 million residents evacuated.
The Three Gorges navigation administration said on Saturday it will close ship locks if floods gush in at a speed of up to 45,000 cubic meters a second.
At least 146 people have already been confirmed dead and 40 missing in 10 provinces and Chongqing municipality by Friday, after continuous rainstorms and floods in the areas since July 1, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.
Heavy rains have inflated water flow at both the mainstream and tributaries of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, with inflow from the Minjiang, Tuojiang and Jialing rivers rising fast, said Wang Jun, director of the hydrology bureau under the Changjiang Water Resources Commission.
There is an article today, saying the
MOST amount of Water ever is about to go against the Three Gorges Dam, as all the flood waters are making their way down the Yangtze River.
Floodwater rushes through the sluice gates of the Three Gorges Dam in Yichang, central China's Hubei province on July 19, 2010. The reservoir's inflow rose up to 58,000 cubic meters a second at 8:00 am this morning, the highest this year. The Bureau of Hydrology of the Yangtze River Water Conservancy Commission predicts that the most horrible flood to date with the largest water gush at a speed of nearly 70,000 cubic meters a second is being brewed at the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. The China Three Gorges Corporation has stepped up its protective measures by escalating its sluicing to 40,000 cubic meters a second to brace for the largest flood since its operation. [Photo/Xinhua]
UPDATE 7/20/10 -
Shortage of Funds stall Three Gorges Dam Ecological Plans for Three Gorges Dam
BEIJING - Several ecological programs planned for the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest one of its type, have remained stalled due to a shortage of funds, authorities said on Wednesday.
Scientists and scholars have expressed doubts about the dam's impact on the environment, such as the increasing risks of landslides, waterborne diseases and earthquakes.
In a bid to put the doubts at rest, the government launched a 10-year pollution control plan in 2001. But the results have not been optimistic, experts said.
Since 2003, seven rivers in the Three Gorges area in Hubei have been plagued by a blue algae outbreak.
Climate change and the construction of water reservoirs have increased the possibilities of the blue algae outbreak in the Yangtze River, Zhang Tong said.
Zhang Lijun said some water samples in the Three Gorges area were found unsafe, adding the blue algae outbreak is increasing not only in rivers but also in lakes.
The industries along the river also threaten the environment in the Three Gorges area, because some heavy-polluting enterprises are emitting pollutants into the river, Zhang Lijun said.