After Slamming Western Media “Hype”, Chinese Officials Issue Highest Flood Alert As Three Gorges Dam Pushed To Limits

The Huaihe River Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources issued its highest flood alert Monday after the water level on the major river, located between the Yellow and the Yangtze Rivers, reached dangerous levels. 

The water level at the Wangjiaba hydrological station on the Huaihe River reached 29.7 meters on Monday, well above the danger level of 27.5 meters. 

Global Times posted a video Monday of Wangjiaba hydrological station.

The Wangjiaba section of the Huaihe River in East China’s Anhui Province opened a water channel to release floodwater on Monday as the river’s water exceeded warning levels early on Monday morning. pic.twitter.com/u0MgaUh2v0

— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) July 20, 2020

The 1,000-kilometer river is a major waterway in China, is facing grim flooding risks over the next three days for parts of Shanxi, Henan, Shandong, Anhui, and Jiangsu provinces. 

Massive flooding upstream on the Yangtze River has also caused concern that the Three Gorges Dam, the largest hydroelectric power station in the world, is being pushed to the limit under the strain of massive flows of water. 

New photo of the PLA officer that drew the shortest straw at the creaking dam…. pic.twitter.com/o6q41Ff96z

— 🇺🇸Kyle Bass🇺🇸 (@Jkylebass) July 21, 2020

Many regions along the Yangtze River have flooded in the past week due to torrential rains this monsoon season. At the moment, at least 400 Yangtze tributary rivers have overflowed, with at least a hundred dead and 15 million people evacuated from their homes in July alone. 

Rainfall totals in China are about 12% higher than the last monsoon season. The economic damage is already in the billions of dollars, according to government estimates the previous week.   

We noted last week rising floodwaters on the Yangtze River had caused fears the Three Gorges Dam has failed to prevent flooding downstream. 

Officials dismissed these accusations on Monday by saying: 

“If flooding occurred via heavy rainfall in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the cities surrounding these reaches would have to mainly rely on their own flood drainage facilities,” state-owned Three Gorges Corporation said.

“Under such circumstances, the Three Gorges Dam can still make a contribution by retaining and impounding water to ease the pressure on those cities.”

Some media outlets are claiming the massive damn could collapse. 

When the Three Gorges Dam was completed in 2006, China proudly claimed it could hold back the worst flood in 10,000 years.

Today the dam is at risk of collapse with 400 million lives in danger.

The CCP recently opened all floodgates – what happens next is out of their control. pic.twitter.com/ZyoKVtIUHh

— Things China Doesn’t Want You To Know (@TruthAbtChina) July 13, 2020

Chinese state media has continued to indicate Western media is ‘hyping’ the dam’s collapse. 

Flooding this week is expected to continue on the Huaihe River with no signs of abating. 

A major flooding event could be what the Communist Party of China officials need to scapegoat the coming stall in the world’s second-largest economy.