Flooded Tuanzhou township water levels drop

A total of 7.57 million cubic meters of water has been discharged in the flooded Tuanzhou township of Hunan province and water levels have dropped 0.15 meter, according to local authorities.

Authorities started to pump out the water on Tuesday after the dike breach, along Dongting Lake, the second-largest fresh water lake in the country, which had been sealed off on Monday night.

A total 47.76 square kilometers, or more than 90 percent of the township has been flooded and the average depth of the flood water is 4.6 meters.

A total of 16 professional drainage teams and more than 300 pieces of equipment have been used to pump out the water, according to Hunan Daily.

A separate report by the newspaper said the Three Gorges Dam has started to discharge flood water from Wednesday.

The dam has increased the discharge water flow from 27,000 to 31,000 cubic meters per second.

Chen Wenping, an expert at Hunan Dongting Lake water resources affairs center said Hunan is expected to have on average only 10 millimeters of rainfall from July 10 and 17.

While the upper reaches of the Three Gorges Dam is expected to have heavy rainfall, with the maximally inflow of water to the dam reaching 45,000 cubic meters per second, much higher than the discharge water flow.

Thanks to the adjustment of the dam, the water level of Dongting Lake is expected to continue to recede gradually or remain similar for the coming week, he said.