Dongting Lake Levee Collapses 1. 2 Billion Embankment Reinforcement Utterly Fails, Other Dams Teeter

On the evening of July 5, around 5 PM, the embankment at Tuanzhou Dike in Huarong County, Hunan province, suddenly breached. This occurred in the middle and lower reaches of Dongting Lake on the Yangtze River. Due to the failure of emergency repairs, as of 9 AM on July 6, the breach had expanded to 226 meters. The surging floodwaters quickly inundated villages and farmland, forcing local residents to evacuate overnight. Within one night, Tuanzhou Dike was swallowed by the flood. The flood covered an area of 47. 6 square kilometers, accounting for 93 of the total area of Tuanzhou Dike. The average water depth inside the dike reached about 5 meters, submerging many twostory buildings almost entirely. About 6, 000 residents were urgently relocated. ,chinaobserver All rights reserved. You can support us at: For business cooperation, please contact us: