Three Gorges GushTorrents of floodwater sluice through the Three Gorges Dam (map) in a picture taken Monday in Yichang, China. The country's worst flooding in more than a decade has struck this summer, killing 900 and displacing nearly 10 million so far, according to Reuters and the Associated Press.Three Gorges Dam, situated on the Yangtze River, is 1.4 miles (2.3 kilometers) long and 607 feet (185 meters) tall. Building the dam flooded hundreds of miles of pristine gorges, villages, and historic temples. (See "China's Three Gorges Dam, by the Numbers.")A major justification for the dam's construction was its potential for controlling the Yangtze's notorious floods. But now the swollen Yangtze has placed the dam's reservoir at about 90 percent capacity, putting the hydroelectric dam to one of its most serious tests to date.

—Chris Combs
Photograph from ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images

Pictures: Huge Jets Shoot From Dam During China Floods

China's massive Three Gorges Dam is being pushed to its limits by heavy monsoon rains that have sent water gushing through spill gates.

Published July 30, 2010