A photo taken on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 shows the damaged Boluokeng power station dam in Yingde City of southern China's Guangdong Province. [Photo: Xinhuanet]
A large chunk of a 30.5 metre high dam in southern China's Guangdong Province was found to have broken off recently, posing grave danger to a major railway and people living downstream, the China Foto Press reported Wednesday.
The collapsed masonry work from the downstream side of the dam, holding over 200,000 cubic meters of water, measures 12 meters high and 7 meters in width, with a depth of 2 meters. The danger was detected during a regular safety inspection of dams ahead of the flood season.
Experts have decided to gradually release water from the dam before destroying it with dynamite. Meanwhile, the water inflow into the dam will be controlled and the water level in the power station in the lower reaches will also be reduced to minimize the impact.
The report came after a dam collapse in Indonesia has left at least 98 people dead and 132 others missing. Officials said excessive water inflow caused by torrential rains was the main cause for the dam collapse.
The 10-meter-high dam could only hold 12 cubic meter per second water inflow but when the accident happened, the inflow reached 102 cubic meter per second.
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