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Water levels at China’s giant Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze river are inching closer to their maximum after torrential rains raised inflows to a record high, official data showed on Friday. With 75,000 cubic metres per second of water flowing in from the Yangtze river on Thursday, the reservoir’s depths reached 165.6 metres by Friday morning, up more than 2 metres overnight and almost 20 metres higher than the official warning level. The maximum designed depth of China’s largest reservoir is 175 metres. Authorities raised the discharge volume to a record 48,800 cubic metres per second on Thursday to...

People in cities along China's Yangtze River, already swamped with water, are now scrambling to shore up embankments as the world's largest dam faces fast mounting flood pressure... The Three Gorges Dam spans the Yangtze, Asia's longest river, which has become a raging torrent with storm water pouring into the reservoir of the dam at 60 million litres per second on Monday night. On Tuesday morning, dam operator the China Three Gorges Group said water flow into the reservoir fluctuated between 50 million and 60 million litres per second. And the peak flow has not eased, adding more than ten...

China warned that the worst of the deluges that have led millions to be evacuated may be yet to come, after a third wave of floods formed in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River on Sunday (July 26). "The flood control and flood fighting situation is severe," China's water resources ministry said in a statement. "The new peak may appear later." The authorities ordered the Three Gorges Reservoir to save its water-storing capacity in preparation for more flows, and forecast another three days of torrential rain in the southern region. China's south has been battered by severe floods after...

Relentless heavy rains that began pummeling China last month is flooding more areas along the Yangtze River and causing anxiety further along the 2.3-km Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydroelectric power plant. Already, 40 million people have been uprooted. Now, the dam 300 km west of Wuhan is threatening to burst and flood the first city to be hammered by the novel coronavirus. More than 400 rivers have overflowed and authorities estimate the economic toll has already reached 64.4 billion yuan ($9.2 billion).

Torrential downpours and hurricane-force winds forecast across large parts of the country. Water levels of 93 rivers still above warning levels, government says. Chinese regions as far apart as Sichuan in the southwest and Gansu in the northwest are at heightened risk of natural disasters in the coming days amid another round of torrential rain, the country’s weather bureau said on Thursday. Parts of the east coast, including the Bohai Bay region, and the provinces of Shandong and Jiangsu are also set to face hurricane-force winds, the China Meteorological Administration said. The port cities of Qingdao and Rizhao in Shandong...

The Three Gorges Dam is one of the biggest if not the biggest gravity dam in the world. China is currently seeing record flooding, with three-four days of rain still in the future for the area around the dam. When the dam was under construction, they asked foreign consultants to come in and inspect the dam. The consultants noted poor concrete quality and insufficient rebar supports. The Chinese then kicked the consultants out and called them racist. A good video of the extent of the flooding. The dam itself has taken damage from a 2012 earthquake and is now currently...

BEIJING – Record-high water levels at China's massive Three Gorges Dam have called into question Beijing's claims that the world's largest hydroelectric project could withstand a 10,000-year flood. The water level reached 518 feet (158 meters) Saturday morning, just 55 feet (17 meters) from the reservoir's maximum capacity of 573 feet (175 meters), flood control headquarters in the central province of Hubei told The Associated Press. Water could go higher with China's national weather center issuing a warning Saturday of more torrential rains for the region through 8 a.m. Sunday.

China's Monster Three Gorges Dam Is About To Slow The Rotation Of The Earth Cutler Cleveland, The Energy Watch Jun. 18, 2010, 9:23 AM The Myth: The filling of the reservoir behind Three Gorges Dam in China changed the rotation of the Earth. The Evidence: Three Gorges Dam, China crosses the Yangtze River in Hubei province, China. It the world’s largest hydroelectric power station by total capacity, which will be 22,500 MW when completed. When the water level is maximum at 175 meters (574 ft) over sea level (91 meters (299 ft) above river level), the reservoir created by the...

It was hailed as one of the engineering feats of the 20th century. Now the Three Gorges Dam across China’s mighty Yangtze River threatens to become an environmental catastrophe. In an unprecedented admission of blame, Communist Party officials gave a stark warning yesterday of impending disaster in the vast area around the dam if preventive measures are not urgently introduced. For more than a decade China has promoted the world’s biggest hydro-electric project as the best way to end centuries of floods along the basin of the Yangtze and to provide energy to fuel the country’s economic boom. The Government...

It was hailed as one of the engineering feats of the 20th century. Now the Three Gorges Dam across China’s mighty Yangtze River threatens to become an environmental catastrophe. In an unprecedented admission of blame, Communist Party officials gave a stark warning yesterday of impending disaster in the vast area around the dam if preventive measures are not urgently introduced. For more than a decade China has promoted the world’s biggest hydro-electric project as the best way to end centuries of floods along the basin of the Yangtze and to provide energy to fuel the country’s economic boom. An aerial...

Two years before its completion, the world’s largest dam is already changing the local weather, say scientists studying the Three Gorges Dam on China’s Yangtze River. Both modeling and actual meteorological data suggest that the reservoir is cooling its valley, which is causing changes in rainfall. "In China there are a lot of people who complain because of the construction of the dam" and specifically about changes in local weather, said climate modeler Liguang Wu of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of Maryland in College Park. To find out if the dam was really to blame, Wu...

China completed construction of the world's largest dam Saturday in Three Gorges area, central China's Hubei Province, signifying accomplishment of the major structure of the mammoth Three Gorges water control project aiming to tame the flood-prone Yangtze River, the nation's longest. At 2:00 on Saturday afternoon, the final concrete was poured for the 2,309-meter-long, 185-meter-high main wall of the Three Gorges Dam, which by then began to have capacity of holding water. The concrete placement of the Dam's main section was completed 10 months ahead of the schedule, which will enable the Dam to start its role in power...

Rare victory for protesters Agence France-Presse / News24.com, November 19, 2004 China has suspended work on the Pubugou dam project and fired at least one Communist Party official following recent large-scale demonstrations, residents said Friday. www.threegorgesprobe.org/tgp/index.cfm?DSP=content&ContentID=11891 Mouse that roared over Tiger Leaping Gorge by Josephine Ma, South China Morning Post, November 19, 2004 'The [dam] proposal was drawn by kids sitting in the office and they don't know the actual situation. ... And when it reaches the State Council, the leaders don't know the situation and approve it,' says Yunnan farmer Ge Quanxiao. www.threegorgesprobe.org/tgp/index.cfm?DSP=content&ContentID=11887 Beijing moves in to defuse dam...

High tension in Sichuan dam standoff by Kelly Haggart Troops with steel helmets and machine guns have moved in to the Hanyuan county seat in Sichuan province as tension runs high in the Pubugou dam conflict, according to Chinese-language Hong Kong newspaper reports today (Nov. 8). Hundreds of villagers protesting against construction of the dam on the Dadu River in southwest China have been detained, and several dozen farmers have been hospitalized after violent clashes with police that began late last month. The county seat has now been sealed off and outsiders prevented from entering, the newspaper reports said. Eyewitnesses...

clash with police in China over land requisitions Beijing: Up to 100,000 farmers clashed with police in southwest China, protesting compensation payments for farmland requisitioned to make way for a hydroelectric plant, local residents and reports said. Unrest at the Pubugou hydroelectric project on the Dadu river in Sichuan province began last Thursday and peaked Friday when locals marched on the Hanyuan county government offices carrying the corpse of a dead protester, Hong Kong's Sun Daily said. Several people reportedly were killed in the clashes, while scores were injured as some 10,000 People's Armed Police descended on the area to...

Move to protect dam from any terrorist attack comes after Beijing denounced a US Pentagon suggestion that Taiwan could target it in defence BEIJING - China has dispatched heavily-armed troops to the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydropower project, to guard against any terrorist attack, Chinese media reported yesterday. 'The move symbolises the completion of the deployment of armed, anti-terror troops at big bridges, dams and hydropower plants along large rivers,' said Chinese news portal Sina.com, citing state-run China Central Television. The report did not say when the forces began patrolling waters near the US$25 billion (S$42.5 billion) project...

Last Updated: Tuesday, 7 September, 2004, 09:20 GMT 10:20 UK At least 100 dead in China floods The huge city of Chongqing has been badly disrupted At least 100 people have died in China as a result of heavy rains which have also put the massive Three Gorges hydroelectric system on flood alert. More than 80 other people are missing in south-western Sichuan province after days of rain which local officials described as the heaviest in years. Landslides and flash floods have destroyed houses and crops and left hundreds stranded. The heavy rain eased on Tuesday, as rescue teams tried...

China wages war on opium in the Three Gorges areaby Kelly HaggartChinese police have busted an opium growing operation in the heart of the Three Gorges reservoir area and arrested 13 people, the New Beijing Daily (Xin jing bao) reported July 23. Satellite images had raised suspicions before the May 26 raid on the poppy fields in Fengjie county's Daba mountain region, the newspaper said. Police found a "boss," 12 workers and 160 mu (almost 11 hectares) of land planted to opium poppies, the raw material of heroin. Local officials quoted by the newspaper drew links between the illicit cash...

China's growth flickers to a haltby Jonathan WattsBeijing: It looks like the set of a Spielberg science fiction epic. At night, deep in the heart of Sichuan province, miles and miles of vast, silent darkness suddenly give way to the glare of hundreds of spotlights, the frenetic activity of cranes and tractors, and the roar of millions of tonnes of water thundering out from turbines the size of cliff faces. This is the world's biggest hydroelectric plant ?the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze river ?which was rushed into operation last year to meet China's seemingly insatiable appetite for energy....

China dam switches on power China's Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest water control project, has begun generating electricity. China says it badly needs the electricity the dam will generate The first of the dam's 26 generators to go into operation was connected to the power grid at 0131 local time on Thursday (1831 GMT on Wednesday), 20 days ahead of schedule, Xinhua news agency reported. The generating unit will supply 12.9 million kWh per day to the power grids in central and east China, the project's vice general manager said. Yang Qing said the unit would have to pass...