I understand it’s a matter of the Chinese priority on how they stagger the release of water and where. They will try to save as much of the big cities as possible, even though most are already badly flooded.....the farmland and rural areas will be “sacrificed for the collective good”. but they doo want to do whatever is necessary to save the dams from failing.
An US engineer said a couple nights ago that before the 3 gores dam fails you will see spillage over the side areas of the dam which is what to watch for.....the dam itself may hold fr awhile but the top overflow will create great instability in dam already under pressure and unstable.
“An US engineer said a couple nights ago that before the 3 gores dam fails you will see spillage over the side areas of the dam which is what to watch for”
Three Gorges Dam has 5 level locks on both sides of the dam, that allow ocean going ships to travel over a thousand miles inland, past the dam, to the megacity of Chongqing.
Those might present their own failure modes at some point, or there might be an issue further along the sides from them, if things worsen.
Last week, Chinese authorities mentioned that they had measured some deformation at the side of the dam (no specifics), but that is was within specs.
They should have weather forecasts out for the next two weeks, and have a good idea of what to expect, but I have not heard the forecast.