CHENGDU, China—Chinese troops are carving a third drainage channel into the unstable dam holding back a big “quake lake”, as water levels rise and aftershocks send more debris tumbling into the water, state media reported on Monday.
Soldiers are also using short-range missiles and dynamite to blast apart boulders blocking the first channel, to speed up the flow of water, the official Xinhua agency said.
The Tangjiashan lake rose nearly a metre in 24 hours to Monday morning, and already stood over two metres above the drainage channel even though it only began operating on Saturday.
A spokesman for the lake relief operation said residents downstream had to beware against rising waters and landslides as flows increased but he saw no need yet for fresh evacuations.
“The overall situation remains secure and the flows are within what we are expected,” the spokesman Zhou Hua, from Mianyang city downstream from Tangjiashan, said by telephone.
“The outflow is increasing so we are urging people downstream to avoid dangers and stay out of designated areas, but there’s no need for additional emergency measures as this stage.”
The massive barrier of rocks and mud was created in mid-May when a major quake shook China’s southwestern Sichuan province, sending part of a mountainside crashing into the Tongkou river.
