Britannica
Sources used in this answer
How did the Three Gorges Dam affect the 2010 Yangtze River floods?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Three Gorges Dam
The Three Gorges Dam spanning the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) near Yichang, Hubei province, China.
During the extraordinarily rainy summer of 2010, the Three Gorges Dam proved effective in mitigating the impact of Yangtze River floods by holding back a significant portion of the incoming floodwaters.
By retaining this volume within its reservoir, the dam helped minimize the severity of flooding in the downstream regions. However, the dam's capacity was not absolute; to manage the high water volume, officials were required to open the floodgates. Despite the dam's role in flood control, the 2010 event still resulted in significant destruction, as flooding and landslides throughout the Yangtze basin caused extensive property damage and the deaths of several hundred people.1