Three Gorges reservoir braces for flood season

The Three Gorges reservoir, the largest water control facility in the world, has lowered its water level to 145 meters to brace for the coming flood season, the operator of the hydropower project said.

The inflow and outflow of the reservoir was 15,500 and 17,800 cubic meters per second respectively at 2 p.m. Sunday, said the China Three Gorges Corporation. The water level was 145.09 meters, 30 meters down from the highest of 175 meters.

Under the flood control plan this year, the reservoir water level would stand between 144.9 and 146.5 meters between mid-June and Aug. 31.

The Three Gorges project on the stretch of the Yangtze River in Yichang City, Hubei Province, is a multi-functional water control system consisting of a 2,309-meter-long and 185-meter-high dam, a five-tier ship lock and 26 hydropower turbo-generators.

The reservoir postponed the lowering of water levels for about ten days as it cut down its outflow three times to help with the rescue operation of the sunken cruise ship Eastern Star downstream.

The vessel, with 403 tourists, 46 crew members and five travel agency staff aboard, capsized on the night of June 1 in the Yangtze River. The incident left 442 dead and only 12 survived. Endi