An aerial photo taken last week shows water gushing from the Three Gorges Dam in central China’s Hubei Province.
Photo: Zheng Jiayu/Zuma PressHeavy rains that again swelled the Yangtze River are expected to hit the Three Gorges Dam with its largest-ever flood this week.
The new rainfall at a time when summer rains usually have subsided threatens to prolong a crisis that has already caused billions of dollars in economic losses and displaced millions of people.
In the city of Chongqing, downtown streets flooded and local authorities partially shut off traffic as they kept emergency alerts at the highest levels. Downriver from Chongqing, Hubei province authorities took measures to protect the dam, the world’s largest hydroelectric facility.
Three Gorges Dam height
593.83 feet
Maximum water levels: 574.15 ft
Expected on Saturday: 546 ft
500
Warning and flood control: 475.72 ft
400
During nonflood seasons, reservoirs maintain higher water levels for power generation and other functions. When floods come, reservoir water levels are lowered to free up extra storage capacity.
At present, water levels in the Three Gorges Dam are nearly at full capacity.
300
200
100
0
Sources: China Three Gorges Corp.; state media reports
Three Gorges Dam height
593.83 feet
Maximum water levels: 574.15 ft
Expected on Saturday: 546 ft
500
Warning and flood control: 475.72 ft
400
During nonflood seasons, reservoirs maintain higher water levels for power generation and other functions. When floods come, reservoir water levels are lowered to free up extra storage capacity.
At present, water levels in the Three Gorges Dam are nearly at full capacity.
300
200
100
0
Sources: China Three Gorges Corp.; state media reports
Three Gorges Dam height
593.83 feet
Maximum water levels:
574.15 ft
Expected on Saturday:
546 ft
500
Warning and flood control:
475.72 ft
400
During nonflood seasons, reservoirs maintain higher water levels for power generation and other functions. When floods come, reservoir water levels are lowered to free up extra storage capacity.
At present, water levels in the Three Gorges Dam are nearly at full capacity.
300
200
100
0
Sources: China Three Gorges Corp.; state media reports
Three Gorges Dam height
Maximum water levels:
574.15 ft
593.83 feet
500
Expected on Saturday: 546 ft
Warning and flood control:
475.72 ft
400
During nonflood seasons, reservoirs maintain higher water levels for power generation and other functions. When floods come, reservoir water levels are lowered to free up extra storage capacity.
At present, water levels in the Three Gorges Dam are nearly at full capacity.
300
200
100
Sources: China Three Gorges Corp.,
state media reports
0
Inflows to the dam are expected to reach 76 million liters a second on Thursday, the highest level since the dam started holding water in 2003, according to China’s Ministry of Water Resources on Wednesday. The giant dam is capable of handling inflows of about 83.7 million liters a second.
As days of heavy rainfall caused water levels to soar in major tributaries of the Yangtze River and saturated the ground in cities, both Chongqing, a metropolis of some 30 million people, and neighboring Sichuan province on Tuesday initiated “Level I” emergency responses, paving the way for further evacuations and disaster-relief efforts.
It was the first time that the two local governments issued this highest level of alert since China established a four-tier emergency response system in 2005.
As of Wednesday morning in China, Chongqing kept its response raised, while Sichuan had lowered its response to “Level III” as water levels there receded.
Heavy rains are normal in central and south China in June and early July, but this year’s rainfall has persisted well beyond that. For the Yangtze, flooding is its worst in four decades, raising concerns about the Three Gorges Dam and 94,000 smaller dams that dot China’s rivers.
Vendors near the bank of the Yangtze River moved their goods to a safer place in southwest China’s Chongqing on Tuesday.
Photo: Huang Wei/Zuma PressBefore the latest rains, officials had offered reassurances that the dam’s ability to withstand the floods wasn’t in doubt.
Flooding this year has affected more than 63 million people and exacerbated strains to China’s economy from the coronavirus pandemic, which first broke out in the Hubei city of Wuhan. The economic loss from flooding has reached about 179 billion yuan (almost $26 billion), according to Zhou Xuewen, vice minister at the Ministry of Emergency Management, speaking at a briefing last week. More than four million people have been displaced.
Three Gorges Dam height
593.83 feet
Maximum water levels: 574.15 ft
Expected on Saturday: 546 ft
500
Warning and flood control: 475.72 ft
400
During nonflood seasons, reservoirs maintain higher water levels for power generation and other functions. When floods come, reservoir water levels are lowered to free up extra storage capacity.
At present, water levels in the Three Gorges Dam are nearly at full capacity.
300
200
100
0
Sources: China Three Gorges Corp.; state media reports
Three Gorges Dam height
593.83 feet
Maximum water levels: 574.15 ft
Expected on Saturday: 546 ft
500
Warning and flood control: 475.72 ft
400
During nonflood seasons, reservoirs maintain higher water levels for power generation and other functions. When floods come, reservoir water levels are lowered to free up extra storage capacity.
At present, water levels in the Three Gorges Dam are nearly at full capacity.
300
200
100
0
Sources: China Three Gorges Corp.; state media reports
Three Gorges Dam height
593.83 feet
Maximum water levels:
574.15 ft
Expected on Saturday:
546 ft
500
Warning and flood control:
475.72 ft
400
During nonflood seasons, reservoirs maintain higher water levels for power generation and other functions. When floods come, reservoir water levels are lowered to free up extra storage capacity.
At present, water levels in the Three Gorges Dam are nearly at full capacity.
300
200
100
0
Sources: China Three Gorges Corp.; state media reports
Three Gorges Dam height
Maximum water levels:
574.15 ft
593.83 feet
500
Expected on Saturday: 546 ft
Warning and flood control:
475.72 ft
400
During nonflood seasons, reservoirs maintain higher water levels for power generation and other functions. When floods come, reservoir water levels are lowered to free up extra storage capacity.
At present, water levels in the Three Gorges Dam are nearly at full capacity.
300
200
100
Sources: China Three Gorges Corp.,
state media reports
0
Chinese leader Xi Jinping made an appearance Tuesday in Anhui province, further downriver where flooding has eased, in an apparent effort to boost peoples’ confidence that the water volumes are being managed. He drew upon Chinese legends about a man moving mountains and a king controlling the waters, according to state-run China Central Television.
“The Chinese nation has fought natural disasters for thousands of years, gaining precious experience,” he said. “We should continue to fight.”
The Yangtze River Water Conservancy Commission has been bolstering dams upstream to ease the amount of water hitting the Three Gorges, while increasing the discharge of water from the Three Gorges downstream.
The water level in the Three Gorges Dam is expected to set a record of 165.5 meters (543 feet) on Saturday, according to the Water-Resource Ministry. The dam, which is 185 meters tall, is designed to withstand a water level of 175 meters maximum.
In Sichuan, the water rushed to the feet of a 71-meter-tall Buddha statue—the largest in the world, according to Unesco—prompting locals to try to protect the historical rock carving, known as the Leshan Giant Buddha, with sandbags.
In Chongqing, officials said that rivers in the region’s north may experience further flooding, with autumn rainfall forecast to come earlier and be heavier than usual. In a signal of the high stakes for local officials, Chongqing Party Secretary Chen Min’er on Tuesday urged authorities to ensure that no one died.
Freshwater supplies in some regions were cut off as the flooding destroyed a water plant. Zhong Ziming, a Chongqing resident, said people in his area lined up with buckets to get water brought by trucks.
“I have never seen such a huge and swift flood,” he said. “The water doesn’t seem to recede quickly.”
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— Raffaele Huang and Zhao Yueling contributed to this article.
Write to Chao Deng at Chao.Deng@wsj.com
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