Something to watch
Spare a thought for people living in China. There have been 31 days of rain, leading to mass flooding, mudslides, a few minor earthquakes, and some ominous warnings like in #Chongqing city, where people have been told they need to be “above the third floor” and to prepare for floods that might reach 193m (presumably “elevation” not depth of water). There is chatter on social media ( and a few news outlets) wondering if the ThreeGorgesDam is about to break. The chatter has been building for a week and it’s so serious that Chinese government have officially said it’s nonsense. Despite the awesome potential of a failure (or even a serious flood) there is surprisingly small discussion in the media or even on Twitter. Almost like the CCP doesn’t want it discussed?
In the last hours the normal inflow data for the dam has stopped being publicly updated. “Just a glitch”.
As Kate says at SmallDeadAnimals. It’s probably nothing.
The Epoch Times: Floods in China reach biblical proportions
Rains have lasted over 30 days and are continuing. And many other disasters are hitting at once including tornadoes, hailstorms, torrents, mudslides, and earthquakes — in addition to a possible new virus outbreak from the swine flu, and also expected locusts.
The Epoch Times is outspokenly anti-communist, connected with the Falun Gong and is banned inside China.
The Crossroads Youtube channel belongs to The Epoch Times.
The Taiwan News is running with it:
Earthquake sparks fears of landslides above Three Gorges Dam
Chinese seismologist predicts earthquake above Three Gorges Dam, warns of ‘catastrophe’
Flooding in China (video below)
That is a lot of water.
Flooding in China (video below)
Check out the twitter feed at #ThreeGorgesDam
There some astonishing footage.
Watch those videos at this link if you can‘t see them here (I don’t think they work on firefox).
Due to heavy rain and flooding in #Chongqing, a row of residential buildings in Qijiang district flooded, forming a waterfall through the building’s windows. More than 60,000 people have been affected by the flood, 1 person has died, and 2,035 people have been relocated. pic.twitter.com/R5mbVgIX3P
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) July 3, 2020
…
#ThreeGorgesDam …
On SmallDeadAnimals one Hans Rupprecht says his father is a German dam engineer who says “the main problem with the 3 Gorges area is siltation, the entire catchment area is subject to embankment collapse, which causes the the turbine bearings excessive wear; leading to frequent down time. Also not great when you are trying to relieve pressure on the dam due to rising floodwaters.”
Obviously we hope the communist engineering works out ok and remember that things on Twitter are unverified, and could be a photo of a different flood.
UPDATE: Best short summary of dubious building standards and risk, from KHL comment #12
A Chinese hydrologist who helped do the feasibility study on 3 Gorges has several issues with the dam and its possibility of collapse. The left bank was examined by wester experts who said the dam wasn’t up to standards. Not enough rebar, substandard concrete. It’s important to realized that this dan was designed in the 1980s and built from 1992 to 2009, a time when Chinas technical prowess was not yet developed. The containment reservoir isn’t large enough. Initially they claimed the dam was built for a 10000 year flood, then a 1000 year flood, then a 100 and finally said that the dam couldn’t be relied upon to control flooding. In addition, the spillways are improperly designed to that when they’re open they cause flooding down river at least 5 times faster than before there was a dam. In addition, the dam had never run all the turbine at once probably because of the fear of massive flooding down river. Yesterday was the first time they all ran at once. Also yesterday there was a 4.5 earthquake near the dam, which raised the risk of landslides. And we’ve still got another month of this to go.
The concrete is shifting accord to Weinlow because the large concrete blocks are not anchored to the bedrock. Shortly after the dam was opened in 2009 cracks started forming in the concrete. A concrete expert was brought in and said they were minor superficial cracks.
Many YouTube videos have been pulled down, when their Chinese masters snap their fingers, American social media and mainstream media jump to their feet. Ask why the issue of the 3 Gorges structural integrity is not being addressed by any western media. If this dam collapses it will be the single greatest disaster in recorded history. There are 66 nuclear powers down stream from the dam and there 400-600 million people there as well as a number of major cities. Think about that.
UPDATE: The shape of the dam is alleged by some to show wobbles and movements we don’t expect in concrete walls . CCP says the wall has only moved a few mm and it’s normal. Current Google Earth Satelite image does not show the warping. Fake photo?
There are strangely few tweets about this topic, given the potential gravity of it. A few forex traders and others are talking of ways to benefit. The odd video is leaking out of China. How strong is the censorship?
In China, the rainfall in metres,
Not the usual centimetres,
Could force debris and mud,
In a Biblical flood,
Through dams in billions of litres.
–Ruairi
Global Times reports “nothing to see here “ . Irresponsible citizen left bath water running.
95
Jo the South China Morning Post has a long report about the severe floods in Southern China. But one has to search for it.It is not in theSCMP’s headlines. And there is nothing about the Three Gorges Dams.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2101179/over-30-dead-hundreds-thousands-evacuated-floods-ravage
I notice also that the ( Australian ) ABC & BBC websites makes no mention of floods in China or of any issues with the dams.
142
However there is this report from SCMP about the Three Gorges dam being deformed along with similar photos tot he ones you have posted.
The only problem is this it is from July 2019.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3017927/no-problem-all-chinas-three-gorges-dam-warping-rumours-denied
74
The New York Times has a major report on the floods with links to Chinese language sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/03/world/asia/china-floods-rain.html
The floods are definitely very severe with one source saying they are a ‘one in hundred year’ flood. However there is no mention of the flooding having an impact on the Three Gorges dams. The compete omission of any mention or discussion of how these major floods are impacting the dams on the Yang Tse kiang river and the specifically Three Gorges Dams, is interesting. Is news being suppressed I wonder ? Or is everybody crossing their fingers & praying that they will hold ?
33
China Daily has been covering it.
https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202006/29/WS5ef92168a3108348172559e2.html
40
But I suspect one needs to read between the lines of China Daily to get a true idea of what is happening EG
12
That is par for the course, I do the same with the ABC.
20
Of course EG !
Always with the ABC as well
🙁
21
They have impressive plumbing if that is just coming from the bath tap.
81
They also have very dirty people for the bath water to get that colour. If you wacth the video there is also brown water coming out a house to the right.
00
This is one area that climate scientists are real fuzzy on or completely ignore. Rain, water and water vapor. They still have no clue why it defies the concept of gravity.
If you add rotional velocity, then you have centrifugal force in play.
72
“They still have no clue why it defies the concept of gravity.”
Which it doesn’t. 🙂
Just their understanding of the nature of gravity and buoyancy and diffusion mixing etc
142
Increasing low cloud cover because of a quiet sun?
Solar Cycle 12 should offer a clue.
50
But should there not be decreasing evaporation because of a quiet sun ?
43
Cosmic ray bombardment should show up as increased low cloud cover and presumably precipitation. Svensmark is the man who gave the hypothesis credibility, now we wait and see.
“We’d been there before, launching three identical balloons in March 2017,” writes team leader Dr Tony Phillips. “Putting all the data together (2017+2020) we find that radiation has increased +12% in the past 3 years:” Electroverse
80
As I understand it, it’s similar to the way that VOCs (volatile organic compounds) released by trees act as nuclei for water droplets to form around them and hence why Rain Forests are Rain Forests. If you see a brownish haze above a forest in summertime it is caused by the VOCs.
71
I understood that the Blue Mountains were so called because of the eucalyptus oils given off by the forests?
41
Yes.
10
Climate models are not at all fuzzy on rain (precipitation) and evaporation. All the coupled models provide long term predictions of precipitation and evaporation. The linked chart is taken from the CMIP5 ensemble of models mean. It provides the average precipitation minus evaporation for all models in the ensemble – I have just selected the last 20 years from the full data set 1860 to 2100:
http://climexp.knmi.nl/data/icmip5_pme_Amon_modmean_rcp45to85_0-360E_-90-90N_n_+++_2000:2020.png
So not at all fuzzy; quite precise. The point to note is that the average of this chart is about 1.3E-7kg/sq.m/s. So the models provide a never ending net precipitation minus evaporation greater than zero. That is achieved by the models manufacturing water in the atmosphere. The problem is that this process can only occur in models – outside models it is unphysical bunkum. In reality, the atmosphere would be completely depleted of water vapour after 5 years with the predicted net difference between precipitation and evaporation.
On the other hand, maybe China is getting some of the atmospheric manufactured water right now. It is of Biblical proportions.
71
You missed the production of the massive amounts of fuel we use…
How is it made?
Water infusion of coarse.
When the octane is burnt, what is left?
Water vapour of course.
And we’re do we put it?
Into the atmosphere.
22
Inconsequential, insignificant unmeasurable in comparison with 1.3E-7kg/sq.m/s across the entire globe; equates to 4.1kg/sq.m/yr. Or in global terms 2E15kg. Burning a barrel of oil produces 150kg of water vapour. The annul consumption of oil of 97bn barrels produces 1/400th of the water produced by climate models – it is insignificant.
61
You sound exactly like a climate scientist where only temperature data is relevant. Adjusted of course due to too many data points that are moved at times or put in poorly recorded areas where the temperature is compromised by the site chosen.
97 million barrels per day, 365 days…
That is a great deal of water vapour.
10
Forgotten to add that much of it suspends rather than drops from our atmosphere.
So, yes, it does make a significant difference to the climate models that ignore this data point.
20
Interesting historic reading of floods in China:
Natural flooding:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1887_Yellow_River_flood
During war as weapon:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1938_Yellow_River_flood
60
Current floods are in Southern China. Not on the Yellow river John.
23
A point, although not the only one, is that hundreds of thousands of folks have died from flooding (natural & otherwise) in China and few in the world took notice. Geography wasn’t intended.
70
But it gets better…apparently we now have an “ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes” – wow – the study of climate extremes……like, taxpayer funded navel gazing….
File this under “you have to be kidding me”…..
max(), min()….ok..I can do that in a spreadsheet easy enough…..why fund a whole centre?
/sarc
https://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/trend-towards-worsening-heatwaves-is-accelerating-new-research-finds-20200703-p558s8.html
“Heatwaves have become more frequent and have been lasting longer across much of the planet, including Australia, over the past seven decades and the trend is accelerating as the world warms.
“Researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes based at the University of NSW said the findings emerged from the first comprehensive assessment of heatwaves down to regional levels.
“Their results are published in Nature Communications journal on Friday.
72
Nothing to do with the visitor from Penn State, honest.
62
Shouldn’t he be in the state pen?
40
Just because they call it a Centre for Excellence doesn’t mean it is.
100
I’ve long harboured a suspicion that any institute or business that terms itself a ‘Centre of Excellence’ is no such thing.
170
Centre of excellence for spin and misinformation of which they do excell at so I suppose it’s accurate .
110
As ‘Climate Extremes’ aren’t happening there doesn’t seem much for them to do apart from ‘manufacture’ some.
40
I think I mentioned renewables preventing weather once, but I think I got away with it …
January 22, 2015: The Queensland Leader of the Opposition Annastacia Palaszczuk has spoken of her desire to triple the number of Queenslanders with solar (on a soggy Queensland day)…
0.17 secs: ” I can’t control the weather”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezbhVrb7zMs
09/05/12: Rain concerns forcing the Democrats to move President Obama’s convention speech to a smaller venue Thursday night won’t dampen spirits or dilute the president’s message, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday.
The Democratic leader said the weather is “a higher power” that the president can’t control.
“There are some decisions that are made from a different place and whether it rains or not is not in the president’s control.”
https://thehill.com/conventions-2012/dem-convention-charlotte/247641-pelosi-obamas-good-but-cant-control-the-weather
31
One area I have concerns on is that we are really good at building things and terrible at maintaining them.
So many massive projects built in the past are totally abandoned mostly due to poor or no maintenance.
Much of these dams were basing their construction on water levels at the same or lower due to the stand by phrase “Global Warming”. The adding of massive more water was not in consideration.
60
Perhaps they were relying on Flim Flammery’s advice that “the dams would never fill”.
210
And Dan Andrews tells us “dams don’t bring rain” so his spiritual leaders were not at fault for having built Three Gorges.
61
DA’s sidekick who said that there was no point in building new dams in Victoria as there wouldn’t be any rain to fill them must be feeling a bit of a charlie right now. Today, only just past the sixth month point of the year, our rain so far is 613.2mm. It had reached 600.0mm yesterday morning, 3rd of July!
Everywhere around here is horribly soggy and we are paddling in mud. The worry is the extra green growth which will be an added fire hazard come the summer.
81
Good rain = good feed for livestock & crops = farmers happy.
But in the bush , the Greenists want us to worry.
Why ?
Because the fuel load builds up and the Greenists don’t want to do any fuel reduction burning.
That’s their problem Annie.
Their ideology makes it hard for them to learn how to live in the bush.
11
Here is a link to a picture comparing an apparent shift in the dam wall between 2009 to 2018. The Chi-comms say it’s completely normal settlement of only a few millimetres.
https://images.app.goo.gl/4bQ3MVDD1rN5zej16
42
David
That has had some discussion around the net and seems to be image distortion.
AFIK reinforced concrete doesn’t bend very well.
The containment shell at Fort St Vrain was reinforced concrete. The rods were pulled down so tight that with any severe pressure build-up within the shell could part, release pressure and then be pulled back to gas tight – but I don’t think it was supposed to show a bend
60
Doctored photo ?
23
Added a note to the post. Current Google Earth does not show that bending. So the photo is likely a fake. Either that or the CCP has hacked the satellites 😉
52
Jo,
You beat me to it!
I agree it’s a fake.
20
Looks to me more like a digital composite error.
Have seen such effects in surveying photogrammetry.
70
Ok
20
The compositing algorithm will try to blend edges when joining section images.
If there is slight mismatch, this can appear as a slight warp in a straight line.
A friend of mine was working on getting an algorithm to detect the error and reposition the image section to avoid this issue.
Was fun to watch on the screen as he put it through its paces.
70
I agree that photo looks faked – but looking on Google maps and the satellite view there does appear to be some deflection in the walls on both sides where the turbines are – nothing like as bad as the photo .
30
Consider the size of the dam..
If it was anything like on that “incorrect” image you are probably talking 20+ metres slippage.
The dam would not still be standing.
10
If there were that much distortion in the dam in the second image, then the dam would not be there today.
Quite definitely a distorted (or doctored) image.
Google Earth image today, dated 2020, looks quite okay ( though, of course, one can’t see cracks ).
40
I was under the impression that there are NO recent satelite images of the 3 Gs Dam area as China considers it a sensitive zone and blocked sat images a few years ago.
What you see now on google earth etc are old images substituted in.
Is there any way of checking date of images ?
50
Re the distorted dam wall pics: here’s a video that covers multiple aspects of the dam and consequences of its possible collapse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Wz1sNBuj0
At 1:46 you will see the usual static photos which show deformation of the dam wall but which have been ascribed to photographic artefacts resulting from stitching various still shots together, which was quite plausible.
However, at the 5:00 minute mark you can see a short drone video taken above the dam which shows extreme distortion of the wall from multiple angles. The continuous shot is harder to dismiss, and I would have thought, harder to fake. The dam doesn’t seem to be at full discharge, so the vid must be somewhat out of date. Its features seem to identify it as the 3 Gorges Dam.
The video goes on to describe recent volcanic activity at Dawei Mountain to the ESE of the dam (south of Wuhan) where magma recharge of the “extinct” volcano has been detected.
This has been linked to a recent small quake in the area and to erratic animal behaviour such as fish continuing to jump out of rivers and lakes en masse in 3 provinces, a known precursor to earthquake activity. Since the dam lies on 2 fault lines, this could be problematic.
30
Spohocles I just went to look at that link. I was subjected to a 3 minute 50 second Advertising video about some new type of air conditioning.
Bugger Youtube !
Bugger their links.
I have never wanted to watch ads on TV And do not propose to start now.
Pity that the information you wanted to share is thus denied.
13
Don’t blame Sophocles, blame me.
I forget about ads because they never come up for me. Get yourself an ad blocker Bill or a video grabber so you can skip any drivel at your leisure. Works for me.
30
Yes I owe Sophocles an apology..My mistake.
I do have an ad blocker..
But what is a video grabber ?
Never heard of that before.
11
A video downloader. I use Clipgrab. Used it for several years. Also use 4K Video Downloader sometimes. They will only save the video, not the ads.
20
Dams have to be managed, balancing water in vs water out. Bad management leads to downstream flooding (Brisbane 2010/11), or worse. The bigger the dam and the bigger the catchment area, the bigger the problem to be managed. Good luck to them all, I hope they make the right decisions.
120
Management can be bad or good, but the rain scale and duration is the actual problem. No dam can hold back a really big persistent rainfall event, no matter what management process is used. The better idea is to build the ‘decisions’ into the design of the way the dam gradually auto-releases water. i.e. graduated auto releases, where no one gets to chose when or at what level it occurs. Thus undermining the system is not possible with a good flood spill design, as it will spill as soon as it reaches a prescribe level within the dams’ design and engineering, to avoid the biggest of flood releases for as long as possible, and to blunt their onset, while assuring preservation of the structure.
72
That sounds very much like “flatten the curve”.
Yet another part of life, I suppose, where we mix science & politics & ordinary people lose out.
21
You are so right again WS, but then there is politics about the design and all that water is a precious commodity owned by the government so must not be wasted, so spill ways are not always what was designed but what was acceptable to the Government in order to maximize the amount of water storage and the managers are therefore back in charge of opening the manual relief gates.
10
If it’s managed by competent engineers, they may get away with it
If decisions made by the politicians, then no chance.
It will be like another Chernobyl.
30
Maybe not – isn’t current assessment that Chernobyl only killed about 50 people?
20
I’ve just checked with Tim Flannery and he’s confirmed that if they are talking about dams and flooding it must be fake news.
121
“One Hans Rupprecht says his father is a German dam engineer who says “the main problem with the 3 Gorges area is siltation, the entire catchment area is subject to embankment collapse, which causes the the turbine bearings excessive wear; leading to frequent down time.”
I would welcome an assessment from a German engineer, but not from his [probably non-engineer] son. Regardless, he does not imply a danger of a dam collapse. Usually silt settles down in upper reaches of the reservoir, it does not make to turbines.
20
Seems it is called the “Yellow River” for a good reason
31
Disinformation Ian.
The floods are happening in Southern China in the catchment of the Yang Tse Kiang river.
Not the Yellow river.
25
Disinformation? Maybe, then again it could be an example of an arcane rhetorical technique referred to in some obscure circles as humor.
52
Similar upstream geology I would have thought though?
10
Ian and Bill, I misread the gist of your comments, my apologies.
31
The upper catchment of the Yellow river is far less tectonically active.
And in it’s middle reaches flows through desert like areas with lots of loose ‘Loess’ which erodes very easily.
32
Some of what gets in from the Loess Plateau is mud in a state of plastic flow.
But there is plenty of silt in the water of the upper reaches too
20
Tell that to the Aswan Dam people, the reservoir has silted up significantly.
10
Regional tectonic magnitude quakes are not triggered by water within major dams changing level (tectonic quakes are on a 1/3 of a continent scale and involve a lot more energy), the smaller local quakes near dams are just local adjustments that have suddenly exceeded the elastic strain flexure in the rocks below it, producing energetic fractures and slip adjustment. There’s nothing surprising about this, and they’re not going to become tectonic scale.
There’s been some doom prophecies about concrete and steel quality within these dams, but the claims are not backed-up as far as I can see. These were not post 2008 get-rich-quick ghost-city projects, by dodgy unregulated contractors. This was a long-term national infrastructure development, it’s their snowy-hydro engineering equivalent. And this is just a big flood. The swiftness and damage may be exacerbated by the emergency water releases, but that’s to be expected. These dams were specifically designed for flood mitigation. If the three can not absorb the whole flood, then they release the unmanageable excess water to prevent damage to the dams. Seems to be all that’s occurring.
72
That then brings up the issue of why planets are orb shape?
Over the billions of years we have been losing water which then with our land mass exposed, generate an imbalance which must be corrected.
This is where our Sun’s orbital gases that we don’t see are whizzing by, rotating and shaping our orb in a gases pocket generating our atmospheric pressure.
21
Shaped by natural forces.
‘Continental ice launched at high latitudes becomes water in equatorial seas, and the Globe’s radius of gyration increases as a result.
‘Angular momentum must be preserved; hence the Globe slows down, and length-of-day increases. But the oceans are not glued to the earth’s crust, and the linear momentum of the great ocean flows must also be preserved. The flow most vulnerable to even minor adjustments in trajectory relative to its basinal boundaries, for reasons of geometry, is that which carries tropical heat via the Atlantic into the Arctic.’
Robert J. Foster,
Consultant, Melbourne Australia
10
More generally …
‘Celestial bodies are spherical in shape because of gravity. Whenever enough mass gathers close together, the resultant gravity, which follows the inverse square law, pulls equally in all directions and results in a spherical shape.’
Times of India
30
Nice Centuries accepted theory with nothing backing it.
I have done a great deal of work mapping and recording vast areas that science will not touch or review.
Facts don’t matter.
http://jonova.s3.amazonaws.com/guest/lalonde-joe/world-calculations.pdf
http://jonova.s3.amazonaws.com/guest/lalonde-joe/world-calculations-2.pdf
This is just a windsheer that is held back by our atmosphere which is from or Sun orbiting our planet.
20
We see the Sun’s rotation 5 1/4 times to our 1 year of our stable orbit.
This lines up with the gases of Sun velocity stronger on one side of our planet due to distance adding to rotate and shape our globe.
20
Not sure about that, its above my pay scale, so I’ll leave it for others.
20
It is not that difficult.
It is just going from point A to B and the time it takes.
Then point A to B at a slightly different distance with the same time.
Our 24 hours then has a speed at sea level.
I could continue with altitude which is even faster velocities…
10
You seem confused or mis informed ?
There have been news reports and internal prosecutions etc as far back as the early 1990s when initial design/construction of the 3 Gs project started…over massive corruption, poor design, bad construction, etc etc……not to mention slave labour and workplace deaths…all at the 3Gs Dam site., and upsteam reconstruction of displaced Cities etc.
Also , you refer to “The Dams”…are you refering to the 3 Gs. Dam ,..or some other set of dams elseware ?
20
The weight of all that water in a ribbon hundreds of KM long and over 100m deep is sitting on top of several fault zones. Movement is bound to happen. I hope they got their flood insurance premiums fully paid up.
11
A Chinese hydrologist who helped do the feasibility study on 3 Gorges has several issues with the dam and its possibility of collapse. The left bank was examined by wester experts who said the dam wasn’t up to standards. Not enough rebar, substandard concrete. It’s important to realized that this dan was designed in the 1980s and built from 1992 to 2009, a time when Chinas technical prowess was not yet developed. The containment reservoir isn’t large enough. Initially they claimed the dam was built for a 10000 year flood, then a 1000 year flood, then a 100 and finally said that the dam couldn’t be relied upon to control flooding. In addition, the spillways are improperly designed to that when they’re open they cause flooding down river at least 5 times faster than before there was a dam. In addition, the dam had never run all the turbine at once probably because of the fear of massive flooding down river. Yesterday was the first time they all ran at once. Also yesterday there was a 4.5 earthquake near the dam, which raised the risk of landslides. And we’ve still got another month of this to go.
The concrete is shifting accord to Weinlow because the large concrete blocks are not anchored to the bedrock. Shortly after the dam was opened in 2009 cracks started forming in the concrete. A concrete expert was brought in and said they were minor superficial cracks.
Many YouTube videos have been pulled down, when their Chinese masters snap their fingers, American social media and mainstream media jump to their feet. Ask why the issue of the 3 Gorges structural integrity is not being addressed by any western media. If this dam collapses it will be the single greatest disaster in recorded history. There are 66 nuclear powers down stream from the dam and there 400-600 million people there as well as a number of major cities. Think about that.
S
121
Should that dam fail it’ll be the fault of old white men in the west; facebookers should prepare your written apologies expressing the four consciousnesses of Xi Jinping.
42
Thanks KHL – your comment has been added to the post as an update. Good summary.
32
Serp, you may think you are joking but a large part of the design work was undertaken in Europe. I can’t say anything about the actual construction because I was pulled off the project just before I was due to be sent out there (I had to replace another engineer that had a bad accident on another project). I do know there were complaints about the abilities of the local labor force as well as local materials but you get those things on all large projects for governments.
Not quite sure who Weinlow is that KHL mentions but I do know there was a lot of drilling into the bedrock at the start of the project.
The biggest problem came from cities being built on the flood plain below the dam (something that happens all too often around the world because such land is easy to build on). Now when they need to release excess water they can’t because of flooding of those cities.
60
Khl, yes. I recall a presentation given to the I.E.Aust in Perth back about 1990. Several civil engineers with experience in dam design had serious doubts about the structural integrity, the presentation was well documented with pics from other projects as examples. These concerns may have been followed by design changes, or not.
40
It is a glancing blow, easily missed, at 1:40 in the video:
I have heard Wuflu, China flu but this is the first time for the CCP virus.
20
Some parts of the internet have been using that term for months Rick, it illustrates how tribal the echo-chambers are becoming.
Here are the Epoch times ‘docos’ which heavily pushed that term out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bXWGxhd7ic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cav-OCuNmBI
The info in them is accurate, but very politically spun. Be aware of the emotive sound-editing as you watch those, the sound effects are high-pressure BS that is designed to push the listener to polarize using anger and fear. The facts presented would have been sufficiently compelling, but Epoch times has a political agenda, so heaped on the sound layer to phreak people.
63
I used CCPvirus too on and off, but it becomes a bit cumbersome. The Epoch Times have always called it that.
52
I’ve seen Peking Pox, Commo Cough and Socialist Syphilis that you can add to the list
40
I still laugh at Kung Flu.
81
The Epoch Times published a report that water was released from the Three Gorges Dam in the middle of the night last Sunday. Some people down stream were not warned and literally drowned in their own homes. Video has shown people attempting to climb on the roof of a shed and being washed away.
There are 400 million people living below the dam including the city of Wuhan where flooding has been reported and filmed at the now infamous wet market.
Four reporters for the Epoch times have been arrested in Hong Kong since it has been overtaken by Chinese law.
In 1999 western engineers were called to assess the structure and they criticised the steel rods and the concrete. The dam wall is not connected to the bed rock but rather massive concrete blocks sit on top. Chinese engineers claimed the criticism of the structure was racism.
This has been the worst flooding in Central and Southern China for 70 years – since records were kept .
120
Not many people take ScoMo’s religious faith too seriously – it is no doubt viewed as part of his upbringing and now his choice.
Had to come back from holidays to face the music over bushfire response. Within weeks that was all forgotten as the WuFlu took over the front pages. ScoMo led from the front to unite Australia’s response to the virus threat.
How long ago did China pour cold water on his reported desire to investigate the source of CV19. How long ago did the biblical rain begin.
Maybe ScoMo is WAY better connected than we think.
100
lol … he beat the demi-gawd, power Bill Shorten.
50
Here’s a very interesting 15 min YouTube video about how China is damming the Tibetan rivers which will give them control of the water supply for about half the world’s population. They have also built 87,000 dams in China, Australia can’t even build one.
https://youtu.be/CEo4NNo7oaM
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That link is wrong David. I keep getting a film about some new kind of vacuun cleaner.
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The link works for me. It may have been an ad you saw at the start?
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David, I’m not here to watch long Youtube ads about stuff I’m not interested in.
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That sounded very abrupt Bill. I expect David is right. The ads can be annoying but it is how stuff is paid for.
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I use Dissenter as my browser Annie. I do not get any ads usually.
So Youtube has somehow found a way around that block on ads on my browser.
A tad annoying !
22
For me the ad was a fairly short-lived one about a war game. I didn’t persist with the video because I found the plinky-plonky muzak irritating and distracting, not to mention the strange pronunciation of ‘glacier’ as ‘glaysher’ which seems to have crept in in recent years. Think French ‘glacé’ for a hint as to its proper pronounciation!
Damming Tibet’s major rivers seems to me to be a big worry.
I feel very sorry for the flood-affected and flood-threatened Chinese people.
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Bill In Oz, most ads by YouTube can be skipped after 5 seconds although a few you are forced to watch for 15 seconds. The ads are there because it is expensive to provide such infrastructure and that’s how it’s paid for. If you pay for a YouTube Premium account you don’t get ads except if embedded by content providers.
I was hoping people could comment on the content of the video.
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Nine red thumbs for expressing my view of ads on someone’s link.
You all ‘like ads’ it would seem.
Well that says something about the readership here.
Frankly to those of you with that view, I give the ‘one fingered salute’.
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I find that offensive Bill. You make assumptions. I do not like ads and I use a blocker. Sometimes my tablet needs a reset.
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No Bill. !
Yet again you fail to see the significance of the RED thumb.
Its a message to you that you are being a Dik Head yet again !….blaming others for your own failure.
The link DOES work,..its your add blocker that Has failed.
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I actually clicked the link in the hope of seeing this vacuum advert Bill spoke of.
After many attempts I didn’t get to see the vacuum.
That sucks.
.
.
.
I’ll get my coat.
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So you should!
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China having control over the water supply for almost half the world’s population which is outside China is an extremely serious matter in my opinion.
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Agreed David.
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Forget all the climate change tripe that is adduced in its conclusion, the principal threat to downstream neighbours is that China can wipe out the ones it no longer considers friendly by releasing a flood upoon them or trash their agriculture by choking the flow. The special treatment of its ally Pakistan underlines the deep malignity of the Chinese water policy. I’m very grateful to have been shown this information.
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Thanks David,
That’s a fascinating assessment of the strategic importance of Tibet to SE Asia. It’s certainly something I’d not appreciated before, and I wondered why China had been so keen to take it over some years back. That all those major rivers are sourced in Tibet and water the countries from Pakistan to Vietnam, and are now all controlled by China is a big worry. And controlled by dams as well as political ownership. Shows some rather clever long term planning by the CCP.
Adds to my worry list, but thank you.
Cheers,
Dave B
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Glacier meltwater is important particularly in the dry but generally Tibet is considered to be located in a rain shadow of the Himalayas. Most rainfall occurs along the foothills where the plains meet the mountains and up on the high mountainous slopes. Hydro power also doesn’t significantly divert flow, in fact the damming would even out the river flow over the dry months and mitigate flooding. There are some downsides of course – fish migration and natural cycles are interrupted, as well as whether there are significant enough flooding downstream to replenish fields with fresh silt.
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Jo wrote:
It seems the typical river surface has an elevation above sea level of 150m in the region. Minor flooding appears to occur with river above 170m. At 193m, a large area is inundated. The elevation of Chongqing is given as 234m.
NASA provides these flood maps for Chongqing:
https://www.floodmap.net/Elevation/ElevationMap/?gi=1814906
This map gives detail at the confluence of the Jialing and Yangtze Rivers; Wiki states as the entertainment area for Chongqing, which is upstream on the Jialing.
It would appear that 193m is serious flooding but the maps contemplate much higher levels – no idea the circumstances for this.
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Thanks Rick, makes sense. I’ll amend the post.
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In China, the rainfall in metres,
Not the usual centimetres,
Could force debris and mud,
In a Biblical flood,
Through dams in billions of litres.
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Three Gorges Dam is pretty amazing. The total electric generating capacity of the dam is 22,500 MW. That’s almost equal to Australia’s total electricity demand.
On a cruise on the Yangtse quite a few years ago, I recall that more than 1 million people upstream had to be relocated into new villages as water levels were going to rise by about 100 metres. When the water level is at its maximum of 175 m above sea level, 110 m higher than the river level downstream, the dam reservoir is on average about 660 km in length and 1.12 km in width. An important function of the dam is to control flooding, which is a major problem for the seasonal river of the Yangtze. Millions of people live downstream of the dam, with many large, important cities like Wuhan, Nanjing, and Shanghai located adjacent to the river. Plenty of farm land and China’s most important industrial area are built beside the river.
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Hmmmmm…£
https://off-guardian.org/2020/07/02/no-one-has-died-from-the-coronavirus-president-of-the-bulgarian-pathology-association
“A high-profile European pathologist is reporting that he and his colleagues across Europe have not found any evidence of any deaths from the novel coronavirus on that continent.
“Dr. Stoian Alexov called the World Health Organization (WHO) a “criminal medical organization” for creating worldwide fear and chaos without providing objectively verifiable proof of a pandemic.
“Another stunning revelation from Bulgarian Pathology Association (BPA) president Dr. Alexov is that he believes it’s currently “impossible” to create a vaccine against the virus.
“He also revealed that European pathologists haven’t identified any antibodies that are specific for SARS-CoV-2.
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Quite some find OriginalSteve. All along I’ve been wondering if we’ve been had and Alexov’s asserting there is an absence of monoclonal antibodies specific to the alleged pandemic does nothing to dispel that uncertainty.
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Maybe Stoyan should be referred to the SARS-Cov-2 validation testing carried out in Australia:
https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2020/06/post-market-validation-of-the-beijing-genomics-institute-bgi-sars-cov-2-real-time-pcr-platform.pdf
Alexov appears to be someone seeking attention.
20
I wonder what Tony From Oz thinks about this ?
He wrote extensively about the Three Gorges dams project in 2009 mostly from a hydro-electric generation perspective. Maybe he can enlighten us more about the likelihood of a dam collapse ?
23
Back in 2008. I wrote a four part Series on The Three Gorges Hydro Plant. (Link to those four Posts here)(and there’s an extra Post about Chinese hydro plans in Tibet, that I’m still watching with interest)
Now, since that original series more than twelve years back now, I have occasionally gone back and looked at the Dam, noticing the changes since that first Post I wrote, and luckily, at the time, I took two screen print images of the dam, so I have a reference of what it looks like now compared to then.
However, and this seems a little ‘hinky’ really.
In recent times (well, since around October of last year anyway) they have, umm, changed that image of the dam.
Now, it is a computer generated image they have superimposed over the actual dam image, which was once so easily visible. Only those of you who have Google Earth could see this, and here, type in (specifically) The Three Gorges Dam. Look at that image of the dam wall, and like me, you might also wonder what there is to hide here.
Tony.
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There are some good videos at the following link, taken over the last three days.
They show just three of the discharge outlets open and discharging water, and that’s discharging at around 30%, so there’s still room to go yet.
Link to news article with videos.
Tony.
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Tony with the down pour of rains continuing could the inflows from flooded regions up stream lead to the dam being over topped ?
And is there a point at which the pressure/height of the water in the lake at high flood level could lead to the dam collapsing ?
14
“the Three Gorges project….is now considered a “national treasure” that should not be criticized.”
Ummmmm ?
14
EG That comment was from your link..
Don’t know why it is now above your comment.
04
The rumour of a dodgy dam has been around for a year.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-hydropower-threegorges/three-gorges-dam-is-safe-say-china-officials-dismissing-online-rumors-idUSKCN1U40QB
21
Flooding events of magnitude ‘in South China are associated with four types of synoptic patterns (wind shear, a low vortex, southerly wind, and backflow), while those occurring in regions south of the Yangtze River and over the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are associated with the synoptic patterns of a warm wind shear line, pre-cold front, and the edge of the western Pacific subtropical high.’
Eureka Alert
10
A balanced article from Aunty…..
https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-04/coronavirus-how-long-does-it-last/12419770
“Coronavirus can stay in your system for weeks, but research shows you’re probably not contagious
“Scientists believe the positive results were caused by remnants of the virus remaining in the cells
“There was no evidence that those people were still infectious despite their positive tests
“There was no evidence of anyone being newly infected by the virus for a second time
“The study showed the majority of people who had remnants of the virus also had antibodies that could kill it
………
“Professor Collignon said “re-positive” cases with symptoms, quite likely simply had a common cold causing those symptoms — and just happen to have some inactive coronavirus in their body too.
21
G’day OS,
Any idea what is meant by “inactive coronavirus”? Alive and dormant maybe? Certainly not a term I’ve seen before?
Cheers
Dave B
10
Back in the early 1980’s a Chinese-French joint venture built a nuclear power station on the coast just north of Hong Kong. After a few hundred (or thousand) tons of concrete for the base was poured a French engineer found a large supply of rebar leftover. What to do? China syndrome kicked in powered by the destructive loss of face. It was just ignored. The power station was also built on a geological fault line. The story ran well for a while in the South China Morning Post where the project was re-named “Chernobyl on Sea”. And it hasn’t failed, , , YET.
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Lies! All jealous western lies!
(50 cents ‘Ka-Ching’)
12
Where are the Dam Busters when you need them. Maybe a few well placed bunker busting GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrators could help blow China back to the stone age.
12
I cannot wish that on the Chinese people although I totally distrust their government. If the dam gives way, the horror for the people would be unimaginable; too ghastly to contemplate.
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The Three Gorges dam is also Taiwan’s get out of jail card as regards CCP China. Back in 2004 the Taiwanese government
Vice minister for defence was quoted as saying that the dam could be targeted & destroyed if CCP China tried to invade Taiwan. There are 400 million Chinese down stream of the dams who would be drowned by a major flood if the Three Gorges dam was breached. So the reality is that everything that Xi Jon Ping says about taking over Taiwan is just bully boy bluster from someone who knows he could not win.
https://www.scmp.com/article/458897/taipei-says-its-forces-could-hit-three-gorges-dam-do-not-plan
( I think a similar situation applies in Egypt with the Aswan dam. Any major attack by Egypt would lead to an Israeli attack on the Aswan dam. )
01
Ahh !.. the “Barnes Wallace” defence strategy !
30
Put these ideas out of your mind, it won’t come to that.
If you have ten minutes, Brittanica has a look warts and all. Note that the idea was rejected by the Party for an awful long time.
10
It may EG.
It means that Taiwan has a checkmate over the CCP
You destroy us
We destroy you.
Frankly I’m pleased.
But I’m sure the CCP is pissed.
03
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Three-Gorges-Dam
10