Water projects stand test of strongest floods in 20 years
Operation proves effective
The hard work of Chen and his colleagues has paid off. The operation of reservoirs in the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze have played an important role in avoiding the large-scale evacuation of people near Dongting Lake, the second-largest freshwater lake in China, when the Yangtze was hit by the year's first flood early this month.
Chen Jionghong and Chen Guiya, the commission's deputy chief engineer, rebutted a recent report by Reuters that cast doubt on the effectiveness of the flood mitigation role of the Three Gorges Dam.
Before the Yangtze's first flood of the year arrived at the dam on July 2, the commission drafted a plan to mobilize the Three Gorges reservoir and other major reservoirs in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze to help keep the water level at Chenglingji hydrological station below 34.4 meters, which is the maximum design level for dikes in the section.
