Flooding In China: 141 People Missing Or Dead, Fears Three Gorges Dam May Break

Flooding in China Has Resulted in 141 People Missing or Dead and 38 Million Displaced – Could Get Much Worse If Three Gorges Dam Breaks

Joe Hoft 

Despite reassurances by the government, residents along China’s rivers are increasingly worried that the mitigation capabilities of the Three Gorges Dam might fail after heavy rains lashed parts of the country.

Some 141 people are already missing or dead, and nearly 38 million people have been evacuated since alerts were triggered in June about the flooding of 433 rivers nationwide, the country’s flood control authorities said on Monday.

Rivers are now over warning levels and residents are worried.  The CCP is sending reassuring comments on the situation but some are skeptical:

…Zhang Jianping, an activist in Jiangsu, is skeptical.

“With hindsight, I think that all those experts who opposed the buildings of the Three Gorges were right,” Zhang said on Radio Free Asia. “Since it was built, it has never played a role in preventing flooding or droughts, like we thought it would back then.”

Despite protests by residents and environmentalists, the Three Gorges Dam was completed in 2006 after a 12-year build. Millions were displaced as an area of about 600 kilometers was submerged to create the world’s largest dam and hydroelectricity facilities.

The Chinese reportedly released water at the Three Gorges Dam to alleviate pressure on the dam related to recent floods:

The problem is that China once claimed the dam would withstand a 10,000 year flood, then a 1,000 year flood and now only a 100 year flood:

Pictures show that the dam is now displaced since it was built (see cover photo above) which has many people scared that it might break.

It’s events like this that cause the average observer to doubt the CCP and rely on any data coming out of China, on this and other subjects.