Three Gorges Dam Overwhelmed! 11 Floodgates Open, Abandoning Downstream Hubei, Frequent Dam Failures

Recently, due to upstream water pressure, the Three Gorges Dam has increased its flood discharge efforts. On the morning of July 16, local time, the dam opened 11 spillways, releasing water at a rate of 44,000 cubic meters per second. This is only the second time since its commissioning in 2003 that the dam has opened 11 spillways, the last time being in 2020. Previously, a person from Hubei commented online that if the Three Gorges Dam opens 11 spillways, it means the dam has abandoned Hubei Province.
Indeed, the Three Gorges Dam has been discharging large volumes of water for several consecutive days. Since July 13, multiple areas in Hubei Province, including Shiyan, Wuhan, Yichang, and Xiaogan, have experienced heavy rainfall, leading to rapidly rising river levels, turbulent flows, and numerous incidents of dike breaches and dam failures.
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[kirkjohnson]

For your international audience who are not familiar with the geography of China, it would be nice if you showed a map and pointed out the locations that you mention and perhaps a map showing the general areas affected.

Prayers for these people, not their government.

[suspiciousafternoon]

instead of helping their citizens they're busy bullying Filipino fishermen

[JamesSmullins]

All that trash and polluted water should be great for the coastal sea life and their food supply. And they were worried about Japan releasing low levels of radioactive discharge?

[maxhugen]

The CCP once said it would "Tame Nature".

[mikemarsh]

This is what you get when you mess with Mother Nature

[nonamesplease]

I cruised the Yangze River with my wife when they were mostly finished with the dam. They hadn't closed off the river yet, and we were still able to vist some of the places that are now gone due to the damming the river. Unless you've been there, you can't begin to imagine the mind-boggling scale of the Three Gorges project and the vast number of people relocated to higher ground from their ancestral farms, towns, and villages. It is a project that you could only see in the vast expanses of China, and a disaster there would be truly catastrophic.

[boelwerkr]

The sad thing is that the flood could have been prevented. If the different dams upstream would have cooperated, emptied the reservoirs in time and staggered the release of water, the capacity would have been large enough to catch all the water with only reasonably raised water levels. But because all dams tries to maximize the water volume for electricity production, all the dams had to emergency discharge in a very close time span, overwhelming the Three Gorges Dam who was also running with a high water level.
As always in China money over lives.

[raymondg]

Just a suggestion: Show a map of the river in a corner, highlighting the cities you are referencing . For those of us who are not truly familiar with the geography of the Yangtze. Thank you for the excellent report.

[dougsheldon]

A free fish ? Wait til he sees his home washed away.

[petemisc]

You can’t fight Mother Nature and win!

[NobleSaintDGreat]

"MANDATE OF HEAVEN", people you know the drill...

[sikhandtakerakhuvar]

I read that the vast area of water above the dam has changed local rainfall patterns, making them more intense.

[syamorable]

When country lost it Heavenly Mandate😱

[secretagent]

Who could have imagined that anything bad could happen from relocating millions of people and building the largest damn in the world?

[klauskraut]

Thank you for the very informative report! 👍👏

[texan-american]

I guess it's no longer a dam, it's now called the 3 Gorges Sieve... 😬

[Tyiriel]

At least no chinese person will ever say "I've never been to the ocean"

[B_yn]

Why not do a controlled discharge earlier before the rains come? It rains every season so they should decrease the volume by 50%???

[bekf]

Same story, different year. Will this be the year the Yangtze River frees itself from the 3 Gorges Dam?