Inflow from upper reaches of the Yangtze River so far this year has reached a 100-year high

Water behind the Three Gorges Dam in Yichang, Hubei province, will be drained to a historic low before Friday as part of a plan to minimize the risk of flooding in the Yangtze River during the coming wet season.

Zhao Yunfei, head of the Cascade Dispatching and Communication Center at China Three Gorges Corp, said on Tuesday that the depth of water at the Three Gorges Reservoir will be reduced to about 145 meters, 1 meter lower than previous years.

The water had already been reduced to about 146 meters on Sunday, from a high of 175 meters.

Inflows from the upper streams of the Yangtze hit a 100-year high in the first five months of this year, forcing dam managers to discharge more water and brace for floods, Zhao said.

The large intake is partly the result of a 20 percent increase in precipitation in river basin areas, he said.

Chen Min, an official with the Yangtze River Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, said on Monday that the country can ensure the safety of Yangtze basin areas, despite "a large chance of flooding" in the middle and lower reaches of the country's largest river.

With the help of the Three Gorges Dam and a number of reservoirs in the upper reaches, authorities can ensure that the flood will not wreak havoc as it did in 1998, he said.

In 1998, the Yangtze saw massive flooding during more than 70 days of torrential rainfall. At least 1,800 people died in the floods, and more than 100 million were affected.

Zhao said the reservoirs in the upper reaches can help ensure that peak flows from tributaries of the Yangtze will not converge into the main stream at the same time, thereby reducing flood risks in the middle and lower reaches.

"Also, with the Three Gorges Dam, we can ensure that water is discharged at a rate that the lower reaches can cope with," he said.

If the Three Gorges Dam had been operating in 1998, the water level would have reached about 153 meters, indicating that there will be adequate capacity to cope with this year's greater risk flooding, he said.