Authorities in central China have blasted a dam to release surging waters behind it amid widespread flooding across the country that has claimed scores of lives.
Authorities in central China have blasted a dam to release surging waters behind it amid widespread flooding across the country that has claimed scores of lives.
The dam on the Chuhe River in Anhui province was destroyed with explosives early on Sunday morning, after which the water level was expected to drop by 70 centimetres (more than 2ft), state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Water levels on many rivers, including the Yangtze, have been unusually high this year because of torrential rains.
Blasting dams and embankments to discharge water was an extreme response employed during China’s worst floods in recent years in 1998, when more than 2,000 people died and almost three million homes were destroyed.
