The Three Gorges Dam is facing its biggest challenge with mounting floodwaters flowing at up to 65,000 cubic meters per second predicted to pass through the site over the next two or three days.

The world's largest hydropower complex, with major construction completed in 2006, has never met such a flood before, according to the China Three Gorges Cooperation.

The dam that spans the Yangtze River in Yichang, Hubei Province, will suspend its shipping passage by closing the ship locks when the water flow reaches 45,000 cubic meters per second, the CTGC said.

The dam opened four flood discharge holes and a row of holes designed to let debris through to increase water flow from 32,000 cubic meters per second to 34,000 cubic meters per second on Saturday after Hubei was again hit by torrential rain.

China's State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said yesterday that levels in Dongting Lake, into which flood water from the Yangtze flows, rose to 32.53 meters at 10am yesterday, about 0.02 meters above the alert level for the first time in this flood season.

Liu Ning, vice minister of water resources, described the situation in the upper and middle sections of the Yangtze as severe.

Record rainfall

The flood headquarters has urged local governments to step up efforts to fight the floods. It has allocated 15,000 life jackets to Jiangxi Province and dispatched eight teams to affected areas.

Heavy rain lashed Hubei cities, including Suizhou, Jingmen, Tianmen and Xiaogan, on Friday and Saturday. The rainfall in Suizhou reached a record 262 millimeters while Xiaochang had a fall of 86 millimeters in an hour, the heaviest this year, Xinhua news agency reported.

Authorities in Anhui Province are facing a fight on two fronts with increased flooding on both the Huaihe and Yangtze rivers, according to Xinhua.

The Wangjiaba Dam on the Huaihe River's main channel will experience a flood peak today, Huaihe River's flood control headquarters said.

Anhui now has four big dams and 26 medium-sized and 890 small reservoirs with water exceeding flood control limits, Xinhua said.

Meanwhile, at least 23 people had been killed and 30 were still missing after the worst rainstorm of the year lashed southwest China's Sichuan Province since Friday, the provincial civil affairs department said yesterday.

More than 586,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes as torrential rains pounded the province and triggered mountain torrents, landslides and house collapses, cutting off roads, electricity and communications in some regions.

• challenge [´tʃælindʒ] n.&vt.向....挑战；怀疑 (初中英语单词)
• complex [´kɔmpleks] a.复杂的 n.综合企业 (初中英语单词)
• construction [kən´strʌkʃən] n.建设；修建；结构 (初中英语单词)
• cooperation [kəu,ɔpə´reiʃən] n.合作；协作 (初中英语单词)
• province [´prɔvins] n.省；领域；范围 (初中英语单词)
• suspend [sə´spend] v.吊，挂；中止；暂停 (初中英语单词)
• shipping [´ʃipiŋ] n.船运业；船舶(总数) (初中英语单词)
• discharge [dis´tʃɑ:dʒ] vt.&n.卸货；释放；解雇 (初中英语单词)
• relief [ri´li:f] n.救济；援救；减轻 (初中英语单词)
• headquarters [´hed,kwɔ:təz] n.总部(署)，司令部 (初中英语单词)
• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• minister [´ministə] n.部长；大臣 v.伺候 (初中英语单词)
• severe [si´viə] a.严厉的；苛刻的 (初中英语单词)
• rainfall [´reinfɔ:l] n.雨量 (初中英语单词)
• agency [´eidʒənsi] n.代理商；机构；代理 (初中英语单词)
• channel [´tʃænəl] n.海峡；航道；途径 (初中英语单词)
• meanwhile [´mi:n´wail] n.&ad.其间；同时 (初中英语单词)
• missing [´misiŋ] a.缺掉的；失踪的 (初中英语单词)
• southwest [,sauθ´west] n.&a.西南(方)(的) (高中英语单词)
• electricity [i,lek´trisiti] n.电；电学；电流 (高中英语单词)
• yangtze [´jæŋtsi:] n.长江 (英语四级单词)
• drought [draut] n.旱灾；干旱 (英语四级单词)
• exceeding [ik´si:diŋ] a.超越的，非常的 (英语四级单词)
• provincial [prə´vinʃəl] a.省的 n.外省人 (英语四级单词)
• affected [ə´fektid] a.做作的；假装的 (英语六级单词)