Entirely too many eggs in that particular basket for the failure to "merely" be horrifying.
-First casualties due to flooding (people/farmland/infrastructure) very easily extending to/through Shanghai would only be a prelude. (And Wuhan biohazards wouldn't even rate notice.)
-When those generator houses in 3G flood/fail, something on the order of one-third of China's electrical grid goes away.
-The locks by the dam would essentially be put out of operation if not damaged/blocked by debris from the dam itself which would also block shipping traffic in the remains of the main channel.
-Then, when the dust settles, whatever national leadership still exists gets to work on the cleanup.
(My best guess just to clear the Yangtze shipping channel at the dam site runs to decades...even with heavy machinery.)
"Biblical" is a good word for it.
I think it’s going to be biblical. If not this year then at a later date. I read a lot about the sub-par construction of that dam. No way it’s going to last-it’s already seems to be bowed-that’s not good.
When it goes, China can say good bye to World Domination, I think.