Yangtze flood raises water in Three Gorges

Yangtze River saw its third flood of the year on its upper reaches Sunday afternoon, caused by rising water levels in its trunk streams along the upper reaches, leading to the increasing inflow into the Three Gorges reservoir.

At 2pm Sunday, the reservoir reported a maximum inflow of 50,000 cubic meters per second, which is expected to reach 60,000 cubic meters per second by late last night.

Torrential rain since Saturday evening has wreaked havoc across Jianshi County in Enshi Prefecture of central China’s Hubei Province. The county has been overwhelmed after steady rainfall reached almost 180 millimeters.

Local authorities raised the flood emergency response on Sunday from the second highest to the top alert, warning that flood levels in the hardest-hit areas could be over 560 millimeters.

Residents living along the river have been urged to evacuate and stay away from the river bank.

Meanwhile, a landslide has blocked a river in southwest China’s Chongqing City, forming a barrier lake that threatens nearby townships and a power station, local authorities said on Sunday.

The barrier lake, caused by a downpour-triggered landslide measuring about 1.3 million cubic meters in size, was formed on the Yancang River, a tributary of Wujiang River, in Liujing Village in Wulong District, according to the government of Wulong.