China's Three Gorges dam on alert
China's enormous Three Gorges dam remains on high alert as waters
from the flooded Yangtze river continue to pour into the reservoir
behind it.
Story from BBC NEWS:
Water levels were expected to peak on Wednesday, but
officials insist the massive dam is able to cope.
Floods and landslides caused by heavy rains upstream
from the Three Gorges have already killed 160 people.
Navigation through the dam's locks has been suspended
for the first time since operations began earlier this year. Life in Chongqing has been
badly disrupted
The Chinese authorities are reinforcing the structure's outlying bulwarks to deal with the
fast-rising waters.
Flood control
The massive dam project, built at a cost of $25bn, is supposed to help control China's
annual flooding.
But it continues to be highly controversial, even though China desperately needs the
power it is designed to generate, says the BBC's Francis Markus in Shanghai.
According to Ute Collier, the dams initiative leader for the World Wildlife Fund, the
main danger concerns people living below the dam.
As water fills the reservoir from the swollen rivers above, the level has to be reduced by
releasing extra water downstream to alleviate pressure on the walls of the dam.
"This could become a serious problem if the rains continue," Ms Collier told BBC News
Online.
Villages in Hubei province, downstream on the Yangtze River, are said to be braced for a
possible surge in water levels.
Ms Collier says part of the reason China suffers such acute flooding on the Yangtze is
because huge areas of land have been deforested, leading to run-off water filling the
rivers, which are then unable to cope when there is heavy rainfall.
"There needs to be an effort to allow natural flood plains to do their work," she said.
"Artificial dams have trouble dealing with extreme events like this."
Once a century
Upstream from the Three Gorges, floods and landslides unleashed by torrential rain have
already left 160 people dead.
Many others are missing and thousands are reported to
be injured or sick, following five days of incessant rain
that has swamped rivers in a wide area of south-west
China.
In some areas of Sichuan province and Chongqing
municipality, the flood waters have been so deep that
they have submerged four-storey buildings. Entire
communities have been marooned.
More than 450,000 people have been evacuated and 127,000 homes destroyed or
damaged, the China Daily newspaper reported.
The worst-affected area is said to be the city of Dazhou, which was hit with 360mm (14.4
inches) of rain.
Thousands of military personnel, police and other rescue workers are helping to distribute
food and medicine in the area.
The official Xinhua news agency described the situation as a "catastrophe which is not
likely to happen in a century".
Meteorologists warn that at more major storms will strike the region in the coming
weeks.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/3636426.stm
Published: 2004/09/08 10:24:11 GMT
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