China Blasts a Dam to Relieve Pressure from Raging Flood Waters

Millions have been displaced in China due to recent flooding in the country. Now today China blasted a dam to relieve pressure from the floods.

State broadcaster CCTV reported the dam on the Chuhe River in Anhui province was destroyed with explosives early Sunday morning, after which the water level was expected to drop by 70 centimeters (more than 2 feet).
Blasting dams and embankments to discharge water was an extreme response employed during China’s worst floods in recent years in 1998, when more than 2,000 people died and almost 3 million homes were destroyed.
Last week, the gargantuan Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze opened three floodgates as the water level behind the massive dam rose more than 15 meters (50 feet) above flood level. Another flood crest is expected to arrive at the dam on Tuesday.
Water levels on many rivers, including the mighty Yangtze, have been unusually high this year because of torrential rains.
Authorities in central China blasted a dam Sunday to release surging waters behind it amid widespread flooding across the country that has claimed scores of lives.
State broadcaster CCTV reported the dam on the Chuhe River in Anhui province was destroyed with explosives early Sunday morning, after which the water level was expected to drop by 70 centimeters (more than 2 feet).

We’ve been reporting for the past couple of weeks on the terrible floods in China. A week ago The Asian Review reported:

Despite reassurances by the government, residents along China’s rivers are increasingly worried that the mitigation capabilities of the Three Gorges Dam might fail after heavy rains lashed parts of the country.

Some 141 people are already missing or dead, and nearly 38 million people have been evacuated since alerts were triggered in June about the flooding of 433 rivers nationwide, the country’s flood control authorities said on Monday.

Rivers are now over warning levels and residents are worried. The CCP is sending reassuring comments on the situation but some are skeptical:

…Zhang Jianping, an activist in Jiangsu, is skeptical.
“With hindsight, I think that all those experts who opposed the buildings of the Three Gorges were right,” Zhang said on Radio Free Asia. “Since it was built, it has never played a role in preventing flooding or droughts, like we thought it would back then.”
Despite protests by residents and environmentalists, the Three Gorges Dam was completed in 2006 after a 12-year build. Millions were displaced as an area of about 600 kilometers was submerged to create the world’s largest dam and hydroelectricity facilities.

On July 5 we reported China’s massive Three Gorges Dam is at risk of blowing, putting 400 million people at risk. The problem is that China once claimed the dam would withstand a 10,000 year flood, then a 1,000 year flood and now only a 100 year flood:

CLICK ABOVE ARTICLeLINK FOR THE VIDEO

Pictures show that the dam is now displaced since it was built (see cover photo above) which has many people scared that it might break.

We also reported last week that an expert on the region’s food supply, Geoff Quartermaine Bastin, claimed the impact on the world’s food supply would be massive should the Three Gorges Dam break.

A Three Gorges Dam break in China would be devastating China and to the world food supply. China blasting another dam is not a good sign.

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Millions have been displaced in China due to recent flooding in the country. Now today China blasted a dam to relieve pressure from the floods.

CLICK ABOVE ARTICLeLINK FOR THE VIDEO

A Three Gorges Dam break in China would be devastating China and to the world food supply. China blasting another dam is not a good sign.

DAM ON THE CHUHE RIVER