Three Gorges reservoir braces for severe floods

WUHAN -- This coming Thursday the Three Gorges reservoir in central China's Hubei Province is expected to see the most severe round of floods since it started to hold water in 2003.

According to a forecast by the Changjiang Water Resources Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources, the inbound flow of water is expected to reach more than 74,000 cubic meters per second after continuous heavy rain battered the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

The Yangtze River, China's longest waterway, recorded the fifth flood of the year in its upper reaches on Monday.

The Three Gorges project is a multi-functional water-control system, consisting of a 2,309-meter-long and 185-meter-high dam, a five-tier ship lock on the north and south, and 34 turbo-generators with a combined generating capacity of 22.5 million kilowatts.

Southwest China's Chongqing municipality, which is located along the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, upgraded its flood-control response to Level I on Tuesday, the highest rung in the four-tier emergency response system for floods.

The upcoming flood is expected to hit the city proper of Chongqing from Tuesday to Thursday, according to the municipal water resources authorities.