Are the recent storms significantly out of the ordinary? Timing of monsoon season has to be pretty well established. Seems like a screw up by the operators not to have previously lowered the level to have room for the typical rains plus some margin. Look back at Hoover dam in 1983....
“Are the recent storms significantly out of the ordinary?”
Yes, they started early this year, and have been very heavy - like once in a hundred years heavy, or even more.
“Are the recent storms significantly out of the ordinary?”
Forbes reports: “It was reported to be the worst flood since 1998, and not 100 years as some in Beijing have said.
All told, more than 400 Yangtze tributary rivers have overflowed, with nearly 200 people dead and properties underwater.
Average rainfall is around 12% higher than last monsoon season.”
They also state: “The thing is, that the (Three Gorges Dam) power station is down the Yangtze River from a handful of other dams that exist at a higher elevation than the Three Gorges. And because of the floods and problems at those dams upstream, Three Gorges is buckling under the strain of massive flows of water.”