TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Multiple videos surfaced on Thursday (July 16) showing Chongqing suffering a second bout of massive flooding this summer as the Three Gorges Dam reportedly restricts its outflow despite a large enough inflow to declare the Yangtze River's second official flood of the year.
As the vaunted Three Gorges Dam fails to live up to its purported purpose of "flood control," Chongqing, which sits at the headwaters of the dam on the Yangtze River, began experiencing torrential rain and severe flooding on Wednesday (July 15) and Thursday. This is the second time the city has seen devastating floods in less than a month, with the Chongqing Municipal Hydrological Monitoring Station issuing its first red alert flood warning in 80 years for the Qijiang River on June 22.
Tremendous downpours beginning on Wednesday resulted in the water level of the Yangtze in Chongqing rising by 3 meters overnight. This caused severe flooding across the city, with 188,025 people in 19 districts and countries affected as well as 1,000 houses destroyed and 6,000 hectares of crops inundated, reported China News Service.
Three people in Chongqing have reportedly died from the latest flooding, and four are listed as missing. One of the worst-hit parts of Chongqing was Wanzhou District, which saw its streets submerged under 1.5 to 3 meters of water, forcing the evacuation of 8,000 residents.
China's state-run Xinhua on Tuesday (July 14) praised the Three Gorges Dam as the "largest water-control system along the Yangtze River" and boasted of its ability to "ease pressure at the middle and lower reaches" of the river. It proudly proclaimed that the outward flow of the dam has been cut in half to 19,000 cubic meters per second since July 7.
On Friday it stated that because the dam's reservoir had reached 50,000 cubic meters per second and would hit 55,000 cubic meters per second that evening, the authorities had announced the "No. 2 Flood" of the year for the Yangtze River. The Changjiang Water Resources Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources that day predicted heavy rains in the Yangtze River basin "over the coming days."
The following are videos posted by Chinese netizens showing flooding on Thursday, primarily in Wanzhou District :
Flood in #China — areas around Chongqing, Sichuan pic.twitter.com/Yw9z68UTG2
— Joeq (@direkchannel) July 17, 2020
7月16号 重庆市 万州区
视频中方言说：上游还在使劲涨水，下游的兄弟姐妹们要保重啊！ pic.twitter.com/UtmxhzGeP7
— 刘妞妞2 (@niuniu_Liu2) July 16, 2020
The upper reaches of the #Yangtze River received heavy rainfall again. On Jul 16 July, the water level on the streets of Wanzhou District in #Chongqing, #China was about 1.5 to 2 meters. People rushed to escape.
The rain may last until Jul 18 according to the forecast. pic.twitter.com/eWhrXTimfh
— Jennifer Zeng 曾錚 (@jenniferatntd) July 16, 2020
今早突发。重庆万州五桥淹了 一觉醒来 楼道门快没了。再晚就出不来了。
晚上估计又加大泄洪量了。这就是在谋杀。
这不是天灾。这不是天灾啊。看到推特的 告诉身边朋友 告诉他们 我们一定要索赔。我们也不上告反正没人受理。我们就到政府门口去要求。不要把人都逼成杨佳。 pic.twitter.com/pZV4Dp7eyD
— 青山兰 (@qingshanlan) July 16, 2020
