Three gorges dam about to collapse? (China)

[thepatriot2705]

In a rare revelation, Beijing has admitted that its 2.4-kilometer Three Gorges Dam spanning the Yangtze River in Hubei province “deformed slightly” after record flooding.

The official Xinhua News Agency quoted the operator of the the world’s largest hydroelectric gravity dam as saying that some nonstructural, peripheral parts of the dam had buckled.

https://asiatimes.com/2020/07/three-gorges-dam-deformed-but-safe-say-operators/

If this dam collapses, upwards of 400 million would be affected and the heart of chinas manufacturing would be flooded for months. If this dam goes, it will make covid look like a picnic as the supply shock would be unimaginable.

[TomMcC]

If that satellite picture is correct, that dam is in big trouble. It looks like it has shifted significantly. How would they even fix something so big that has moved so much.

[Vic79]

Do we care because the potential loss of life to the Chinese people or because this could delay IPhones and smart tv’s?

[flenna]

Do we care because the potential loss of life to the Chinese people or because this could delay IPhones and smart tv’s?

Unfortunately it is a lot more than electronics that we have tied up in China. It will also affect our food and medicine supplies. Which is why we need to get anything critical out of there ASAP- something this COVID disaster has shown us.

[prepare]

Will wipe out the wuhan lab?

[Grand58742]

**EDIT**

Apparently, picture is a fake that circulated some years ago

[The_War_Wagon]

It's been "about to collapse" for 6 weeks now. :rolleyes:

Unless they get a big, slow, typhoon, it doesn't appear to be going anywhere.

[hotrodder636]

If that dam collapses, that would be horrible. There is a ton of water being held back by that thing and the world wide impact would likely be devastating.

[Sam]

I'm no structural engineer but we all have seen concrete structures before, all our lives. If a structure of concrete was constructed straight in the beginning, you can "deform" concrete to make it look like a sine wave. It's either going to stay straight or some force is going to completely push it over. Especially forces as tremendous as an entire river. I'm just trying to reason this out. Could the later picture been altered?

Here is a link to google map picture of the dam taken in 2020. The damn dam look pretty straight to me.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/The+Three+Gorges+Dam/@30.8228733,111.0019125,1861m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m8!1m2!2m1!1sthree+gorges+dam,+yangtze,+river,+china!3m4!1s0x36847615a316d09f:0x9584aaaad675ed83!8m2!3d30.833431!4d111.073498?hl=en

[thepatriot2705]

Do we care because the potential loss of life to the Chinese people or because this could delay IPhones and smart tv’s?

One, the loss of life would be terrible.
Two, vast majority of active pharmaceuticals are produced downstream.
Three, major supply shock. Any thing from electronics to tools to cars to etc
Four, nuclear power plants at risk

[Grand58742]

I'm no structural engineer but we all have seen concrete structures before, all our lives. If a structure of concrete was constructed straight in the beginning, you can "deform" concrete to make it look like a sine wave. It's either going to stay straight or some force is going to completely push it over. Especially forces as tremendous as an entire river. I'm just trying to reason this out. Could the later picture been altered?

Here is a link to google map picture of the dam taken in 2020. The damn dam look pretty straight to me.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/The+Three+Gorges+Dam/@30.8228733,111.0019125,1861m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m8!1m2!2m1!1sthree+gorges+dam,+yangtze,+river,+china!3m4!1s0x36847615a316d09f:0x9584aaaad675ed83!8m2!3d30.833431!4d111.073498?hl=en

Just reading around, there seems to be some concern, but then again, a lot of the news about this subject is coming from Taiwan agencies. I'm pretty sure that's like the difference in CNN and Fox reporting on a subjective story.

But, this does seem concerning considering it's still raining over there:

https://asiatimes.com/2020/07/yangtze-deluge-tests-limits-of-three-gorges-dam/

https://i1.wp.com/asiatimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Screenshot-2020-07-23-at-12.19.57-PM.png?w=817&ssl=1

I think everyone will agree we are NOT going to get good news out of Chinese sources and news out of Taiwanese sources will probably be doom and gloom.

[teufelhund1918]

Here's the picture for those that don't click the link:

https://i2.wp.com/asiatimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/dpC3EYTvbvLklQXjXtFd2-MjctNvYu6k3oN-d96Dfnc.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&ssl=1

Slightly different angles, but yes, that dose appear to be a little more than slightly deformed and not just in "peripheral" areas. I'm not sure of the resolution in the pictures, but that appears to be some significant movement downstream in some places.

It looks like the image with the failing areas of the dam are photo shopped to me. A major move on the left bottom of the concrete dam structure like that would have failed. It's like they took the photo and jogged the image. Look at the structure on the shore in the bottom center of the image. It is straight in the first photo, but jogged in the second photo like the dam is. Not really seeing any water level differences in the images either. ???

[Whiskey_Bravo]

Little more info from the Vietnam Times



https://vietnamtimes.org.vn/china-massive-flood-update-three-gorges-dam-leaked-moved-and-distorted-but-safe-22646.html


According to China Three Gorges Corporatoin, the dam’s deformation occurred last Saturday when flood from western provinces including Sichuan and Chongqing along the upper reaches of the Yangtze River peaked at a record-setting 61,000 cubic meters per second.

“The dam had ‘deformed slightly,’ displacing some external structures, and seepage into the main outlet walls had also been reported throughout the 18 hours on Saturday and Sunday when water was discharged though its outlets”, the corporation notes.

But the problem of water seeping out did not last long, as the dam reportedly deployed floodgates to hold as much water as possible in its 39.3 billion-cubic-meter reservoir to shield the cities downstream from the biggest Yangtze deluge so far this year.

[Averageman]

One, the loss of life would be terrible.
Two, vast majority of active pharmaceuticals are produced downstream.
Three, major supply shock. Any thing from electronics to tools to cars to etc
Four, nuclear power plants at risk

And the downside would be???

[Grand58742]

It looks like the image with the failing areas of the dam are photo shopped to me. A major move on the left bottom of the concrete dam structure like that would have failed. It's like they took the photo and jogged the image. Look at the structure on the shore in the bottom center of the image. It is straight in the first photo, but jogged in the second photo like the dam is. Not really seeing any water level differences in the images either. ???

Good catch. And in checking out that picture, apparently it circulated last year during flooding season as well.

Regardless, I get this very Baghdad Bob feeling when the Chinese say "Nothing to see here..."

[Sam]

A structural engineer just told me that there's no way that a concrete and steel reinforced dam structure of that size can be deformed like in the picture and still stand. It's photoshopped as far as I'm concerned.

I have no doubt that there are lots of rain, it is rainy season on that side of the world and flooding is a norm. Anyone who's been in that side of the world during the rainy season knows. Leaks, damages to the surface of the structure are more than possible but not like in the picture.

I call the picture fake news.

[Whiskey_Bravo]

A structural engineer just told me that there's no way that a concrete and steel reinforced dam structure of that size can be deformed like in the picture and still stand. It's photoshopped as far as I'm concerned.

I have no doubt that there are lots of rain, it is rainy season on that side of the world and flooding is a norm. Anyone who's been in that side of the world during the rainy season knows. Leaks, damages to the surface of the structure are more than possible but not like in the picture.

I call the picture fake news.


Yeah I assume that picture is either altered or some sort of distortion from the angle.

[titsonritz]

I agree, it is BS. Would a be worldly karma ass biting though.

[thepatriot2705]

The sat photo showing deformation is likely a sticking artifact. What concerns me is that China admitted to some problems with it.

[prepare]

The original engineers pulled out long before construction was even near completion due to shotty work and not following building standards.

While it will be disastrous if it goes, the important thing to bare in mind is that they don’t value or protect human life the way we do. They will have brought the disaster upon themselves.

[yoni]

I am not shocked by the fact that some here talk about the loss of life, if the damn fails.

I love Americans, so much!

Such a wonderful nice people, worried that civilians would suffer if the damn breaks.

But those same Americans, that give more charity than the rest of the world combined. When pushed beyond a certain point become, the hardest biggest bastards possible. But still tempered.

America will bomb your cities, into ruble, heck they will even nuke your cities.

But unlike the Red's, when the military comes in they will not gang rape your women.

When things calm down, the Americans will rebuild your cities.

Compare the American response post WW2, to the French and English led response post WW1. The response post WW1 could only bring about a Hitler and WW2 in only 20 years after the lost shot was fired in WW1. Where the American response has brought 70 years of peace and prosperity.

Back to the damn, let it rain. Let it go down. The Chinese are evil, maybe if the damn goes down it could bring about a revolution that would bring an non communist China to the world.

[TMS951]

That picture would seem photoshopped. When I read the title I in no way imagined that it would look like that.

But I certainly believe the damn is damaged and with more rain will fail. If it doesn’t fail this rainy season I’d think it’s years are numbered. I don’t know how you ‘fix’ something like this other than rebuild it.

Chinease manufacturing at its finest. Their shoddy construction and products are a result of willful ingnorance and cutting corners when ever possible.

Thought this and covid I’ve learned they make most pharmaceuticals. This is frightening to me. One of the last things I want to put in my body is chinease produced medicine.

[Co-gnARR]

CCP: There is no god, only CCP
Insurance agent: Great, because acts of God are not covered by this policy.

Bad jokes aside, I hope this potential disaster adds more evidence as to why we must absolutely uncouple our economy and supply chain from China. Sadly, I think the argument will continue to fall on deaf ears.

[Business_Casual]

I believe Vietnam would like to take factories out of China and into their territory. If they accomplish that by lying about a dam, they don’t give a dam.

Though they aren’t wrong about Chinese quality control by any means.

[SteyrAUG]

And the downside would be???

All innocent loss of life would be bad. People can't control where they are born. Even it the worst countries, governments and cultures you will find innocents and they are usually the first to die.

[Esq.]

And the downside would be???


Exactly. We need a hard de coupling from China. Tear the band aid off already. This would mean an inward focused China for considerable time to come.....maybe enough time for us to get our own house in order...