Satellite telemetry: The Three Gorges Dam sinks and 1.8 million hectares of the Yangtze River are flooded

Reporter : Li Yun / Editor : Li Quan / Publisher : NTDTV

Ref : https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2020/09/09/a102936801.html / Direct translation

Image : Taiwan Central University researches satellite images of the Three Gorges Dam. (Central News Agency)

Heavy rains have continued in many parts of China in the past three months. The Yangtze River basin has suffered from flooding, and the Three Gorges Dam has attracted much attention. Recently, Taiwan’s Central University researched satellite images of the Three Gorges Dam and found that the Three Gorges Dam was slightly subsiding, and more than 1.8 million hectares of land in the Yangtze River basin were submerged in July.

According to a report by the Central News Agency on 9 September, the Space and Telemetry Research Center of Central University in Taiwan used satellites to remotely measure the flooded area of ​​the Yangtze River in China in July and the long-term deformation of the Three Gorges Dam.

The Central University said in a press release that the continuous heavy rains in southern China since late May have caused serious floods in the Yangtze and Huaihe rivers. In July, 18,000 square kilometers (1.8 million hectares) of land were inundated, of which 1 Ten thousand square kilometers are cultivated land, and the inundated area of ​​towns and villages is more than 2,000 square kilometers, indicating that the flooding situation is severe.

The study also found that not far upstream of the Three Gorges Dam, the upper part of the middle section of the Maopingxi protective earth-rock dam on the right bank of the reservoir has a slight sinking trend, roughly in the direction of satellite observation, sinking about 5mm per year. However, no obvious deformation or damage was found on the surface of the Three Gorges Dam.

Before and after the flooding situation in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the picture shows one of the severely flooded areas in Poyang County, Jiangxi Province. (Provided by Central University)

Several months of heavy rainfall in many provinces in China have caused flooding. The Yangtze River Basin has ushered in 5 waves of flood peaks, directly rushing to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The Three Gorges Dam has continued to "super flood" since mid-June, intensifying the disaster in the lower reaches of thousands of kilometers The water level of the dike was super alert, and the flood control situation was once very severe.

Xinhua News Agency, the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, admitted on 18 July that the Three Gorges Dam had "displacement, seepage, deformation, etc.", but did not provide specific data on the displacement, seepage, and deformation.

In late August, when Li Nanyang, the daughter of Mao Zedong's former secretary Li Rui, who opposed the construction of the Three Gorges Project, was interviewed by France and Guangzhou, she pointed out that "the Three Gorges Dam not only has zero flood control function, but also has a negative value."

Li Nanyang said that the Three Gorges Project was originally built for "flood control", and later it became a comprehensive project for power generation, flood control, and navigation. At that time, her father considered that World War II had just ended, so he persuaded Mao Zedong to dispel the idea of ​​building the Three Gorges Dam. Although they were mentioned many times later, they were all suppressed due to economic and engineering capabilities.

It was not until the bloody suppression of the June 4th Student Movement in 1989 that Jiang Zemin ordered the construction of the Three Gorges Dam in order to stabilize the people and promote the so-called national prestige. Li Nanyang emphasized that when the Three Gorges Dam was designed, there was no comprehensive and unified argumentation. Not only was the Three Gorges unable to prevent floods, but also needed to discharge floods, which led to even worse flooding in the middle and lower reaches.

Li Nanyang said that the tragic situation of the Yangtze River flood this year fully reflects the fact that the dam has no flood control function, because the flood discharge dam has caused great harm to the downstream, and there is no way to remedy the situation, unless it is "blow up", but the authorities for the sake of CCP's face will never do this.