붕괴 위험 '싼샤댐' 또다시 만수위, "수문 최대 개방...건설 이래 최대 물폭탄" VIDEO: Anxiety grows as China’s Three Gorges dam hits highest level

Anxiety grows as China’s Three Gorges dam hits highest level

Officials seek to reassure public after world’s largest hydro-electric dam nears capacity amid heavy floods

Lily Kuo in Beijing

Extreme floods have hit China’s Three Gorges dam, which recorded the largest inflow of water in its history, prompting officials to assure the public it would not be breached.

Water gushes from the Three Gorges dam in Hubei province. The megaproject took 12 years to build. Photograph: Xinhua/Rex/Shutterstock

中 폭우에 싼샤댐 또다시 만수위…“건설 이래 최대 물폭탄”    중국 남부 지방에 두달 넘게 강한 비가 지속되고 있는 가운데 한동안 주춤했던 싼샤(三峽)댐의 수위가 또다시 치솟아 위험 수위를 향하고 있다. 중국 수리부에 따르면 20일 오전 10시 기준 싼샤댐의 수위는 161.95m를 기록하고 있다. 이는 홍수 통제 수위(145m)를 훌쩍 넘긴 것이며, 최고수위인 175m까지도 불과 13여m밖에 남지 않은 상태다. 당국은 싼샤댐의 수위를 160m 내외로 유지하기 위해 주력하고 있지만, 최근 양쯔강 상류 유역에 발생한 5호 홍수로 수위는 결국 160m를 돌파했다. 수리부는 “홍수의 영향으로 싼샤댐 건설 이후 가장 많은 물이 유입될 것”이라고 밝혔다. 이들은 싼샤댐에 초당 최대 7만5000㎥의 물이 유입될 것으로 예상하고 있다. 이에 중국 현지 언론에서도 “싼샤댐이 건설 이래 최대 홍수에 직면하며 시험대에 올랐다”고 우려하고 있다. 2006년 완공된 싼샤댐은 높이 185m, 길이 2.3㎞의 세계 최대 규모로서 저수량은 한국 소양강댐의 14배인 약 390억톤이다. (서울=뉴스1)   중국 창장(長江ㆍ양쯔강)의 싼샤(三峽)댐이 역대 최악의 물폭탄에 다시 위기를 맞고 있다. (서울=연합뉴스) 장성구 기자 sunggu@yna.co.kr

edited by kcontents

Inflows to the world’s largest hydro-electric dam reached 75m litres of water a second, according to state media. By Thursday morning, 11 outlets of the dam had been opened to discharge 49.2m litres of water a second, the largest release since its construction.

After two months of heavy floods across central and south-west China, officials have promised the dam can withstand the flows.

A breach of the dam, a controversial and unprecedented feat of engineering along the Yangtze River, would be embarrassing for China, which took 12 years to build the megaproject, displacing millions and submerging swathes of land.

China floods: Leshan Giant Buddha statue at risk after torrential rainfall – video

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The Three Gorges dam, which can handle inflows of about 98.8m litres a second, is already approaching its capacity. Officials expect water levels in the reservoir, whose dam was built to withstand a water level of 175 metres, to reach 165.5 metres on Saturday. The flooding is predicted to last about five days.

This week the ministry of water resources said the standard of construction meant 111 large reservoirs upstream from the dam could help lessen pressure on the structure. “The standard of construction of the dam is high and it can resist large floods,” it said.

Upstream from the dam, officials in the city of Chongqing, in Sichuan province, evacuated almost 300,000 residents before the flooding. On Thursday, levels along the Yangtze near Chongqing reached heights not seen since 1981, when the country experienced its worst floods in a century, leaving 1.5 million homeless.

In Chongqing, roads, bridges, parks and a main highway in the commercial district were flooded, affecting 260,000 people and damaging at least 20,000 businesses, according to officials.

Images showed flooding had submerged three-metre-high signs and buildings several storeys high. Firefighters were using boats to transport trapped residents.

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/20/china-three-gorges-dam-highest-level-hydro-electric-floods

Live: Three Gorges Dam discharges its largest flood peak三峡枢纽开启11孔泄洪  kcontents