What is special about it?
- it’s the deepest (150m in some gorges)
- third longest (6300km)
- fourth biggest discharge
- ninth biggest drainage basin
- it has the highest flood death rate
What is the name of the river?
The Yangtze River, which flows through china
What is common?
Seasonal flooding
When is China’s rainy season?
June to August
What’s during the rainy season often cause floods?
Huge increase in river discharge
What years have the last major floods occurred?
1931, 1935, 1949, 1954, 1998
How many people did the flood in 1954 kill, make homeless, how much land did it cover and what City?
33169 people
Over 18 million
193 000 km3
Wuhan for over 3 months
How many people did the 1998 flood kill and make homeless? How much did it Cost?
3000
14 million
$26 billion
Why is managing the river effectively essential?
- fertile floodplains produce 70% of China’s rice
- river 50% of fresh water fish
- 1/3 of China’s population live in the river basin
- major cities such as Whunan and nanjing are located next to the river
What flood defences do they use?
Majority hard engineering
Dams- three gorges dam
Levees
How many km of levees are there along the middle and lover parts of the river?
3600
What are the problems with the leeves?
- in 1998 floods many broke which contributed to devastating floods
- after this many reinforced, effective in 2002 floods, but the flood was less severe
When did work begin of the dam? When did it open?
1994
2008
How high is it?
185 m
How long is resivoir? What is the capacity
600km
39km3
How many turbines does the flow water turn?
26
What has been built so ships can pass?
Locks
How much did the dam cost?
26 billion
What has it reduced major flooding to from?
Every 10 years to once ever 100
How much electricity will the turbines produce? How much of China’s demand will this supply?
22.5 gigs watts
3%
What has the reduction of flooding done and therefore what has it increased?
- safer to navigate up Yangtze
- river shipping increased
- bigger ships because reservoir made deeper
How many people have to relocate because of reservoir?
2 million
How many cities and villages submerged?
13
1352
How many factories and sites of cultural interest will it flood? Example?
657
1300 sites zhang fei temple
