Satellite images show that the Three Gorges Dam may have opened all its floodgates early, amid heavy rains pouring down large areas of China.
In an article published on India Today, retired colonel Vinayak Bhat of India on July 10 provided analysis related to satellite images taken of the Three Gorges Dam area . Mr. Vinayak hypothesized that this project may have released flood before China officially announced.
According to Mr. Vinayak, he used satellite images from the open source image provider Sentinel and Google Earth.
On June 29, China said that the Three Gorges Dam was at two flood gates in the morning and confirmed that this was the first flood discharge operation this year of the above project.
Satellite image of the Three Gorges Dam on July 9. (Photo: India Today)
According to Vinayak, satellite images seem to show that the Three Gorges Dam opened its floodgates on June 24. (Photo: India Today)
However, Mr. Vinayak, based on satellite photos, showed that water appeared to have been released from at least 5 large flood gates and 5 small flood gates on June 24. Meanwhile, the Chongqing city hydrological monitoring station on June 22 issued the first flood warning in 80 years for the Qijiang River, a tributary of the Yangtze River.
On June 27 and 28, several videos posted on social media showed that Yichang City, Hubei, located under the Three Gorges Dam, appeared to have been flooded. There is a theory that the flooding is the result of a large-scale opening of floodgates to relieve pressure on the Three Gorges Dam.
On July 3, China’s CGTN channel said that the Three Gorges Dam opened three flood gates the day before. CGTN also said that the inflow rate of flood reaches 50 cubic meters per second, while the outflow rate reaches a daily average of 35 cubic meters per second. This is said to reduce the Yangtze River’s peak discharge by 30%, “effectively relieving pressure with flood control in the middle and lower river areas”.
However, according to Vinayak, a satellite image taken on July 9 shows that all the flood gates of the dam may have been opened.
Heavy rains and floods are affecting tens of millions of Chinese people, causing billions of dollars in economic losses. About 140 people have died or gone missing from floods in China, according to official figures.