Chinese fishing boats berth on the dried river banks as the annual dry winter
season caused the water level along the Yangtze river to be so low
Posted on 05/15/2011 8:48:58 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
China's Yangtze river closed to ships by severe drought
The Yangtze river, the longest waterway in Asia and China's most important shipping route, has been closed by the worst drought in 50 years that has left cargo ships stranded and 400,000 people without drinking water.
Chinese fishing boats berth on the dried river banks as the annual dry winter
season caused the water level along the Yangtze river to be so low
By Peter Foster, Beijing 2:26PM BST 12 May 2011
Follow Peter Foster on Twitter
Water-levels have sunk as low as 10ft in the main thoroughfare of the 3,900-mile long river that stretches from the glaciers of the Tibetan plateau to the coastal city of Shanghai.
The Yangtze river basin is home to one-third of China's population and is responsible for 40 per cent of the country's economic growth.
Emergency teams have been sent to the river's middle reaches around Wuhan in the central province of Hubei, to rescue two ships that have been grounded in the past week and help any others that become stranded.
The river's management office has now closed a 140-mile stretch of the river above Wuhan to ocean-going vessels because of the shallow water.
It also said the river is 160 feet narrower in key sections than it was last year.
Wu Heping, a senior official at the management office said the drought that has affected the Yangtze is the "first we have seen in the past half century" and that the river's water level is "the lowest it has been since 2003, when the Three Gorges Dam went into operation."
He warned that even though storms are imminent, "heavy rain may not raise the water level much".
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
P!
China.....Still 100 years behind!!
We’ve got a few billion extra gallons that we would be glad to sell them.
Communist Scum.
Is it due to that damn dam?
Obviously didn’t dry up over night, And the story is just now reaching the West.
MSM at its finest.
Oh great. Just great.
Now where are we going to get poisoned dog food and baby toys???
Possible. The dam is upstream from Wuhan.
Do you expect the media to write about problems in the people’s paradise?
Thanks TigerLikesRooster. Hey, I thought the Three Gorges dam was supposed to solve all the problems. ;’)
That 1,400 cubic feet of water released from the dam can’t be right. Just a drop in the river.
That's for sure -
A small cube measuring a little over 11 feet per side holds 1,400 cubic feet.
Global cooling has consequences.
Fossil fuel caused it, too. It can cause both global warming and cooling simultaneously. If climate turns bad in any way, it should be pinned on fossil fuel.
I wonder how much swill is in that river sediment.
Sorry. I forgot to put sarcasm tag at the end.
How can this be, since they’ve claimed the ability to control the weather over there since the Olympics? /sarc
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.