Flood to push up water levels of China's Three Gorges Dam to new highs

Flood waters are sluiced with the water outflux monitored at 40,000 cubic meters per second at Three Gorges Dam in Yichang, central China's Hubei Province, July 20, 2010. (Xinhua/Xia Lin)
Flood flow is set to peak again on Monday at China's Three Gorges Dam on the swollen Yangtze River, forcing the water levels of the dam's reservoir to surge again.

Engineers of the dam, located in Yichang City, central Hubei Province, said the water level of the Three Gorges reservoir, which dropped a few centimeters over the weekend, might now rise to break its record high of the year -- 158.86 meters, or 13.86 meters above the warning line.

Authorities said a new round of flood waters would gush into the Three Gorges reservoir on Monday after days of rainstorms swelled branches of the Yangtze on the upper reaches.

On last Tuesday, the flow on the river's upper reaches topped 70,000 cubic meters a second when it reached the Three Gorges reservoir, about 20,000 cubic meters more than the flow during the 1998 floods that killed 4,150 people and the highest level since the dam was completed last year.

Engineers said Monday's flood flow is not likely to exceed last Tuesday's peak.

Floods in China this year had left 742 people dead and 367 missing as of last Friday. Premier Wen Jiabo has told local authorities to be fully aware of the "grave flood-control situation" and to prepare for more serious flooding.

Source:Xinhua