Heavy rains have devastated central and southern China, causing the mighty Yangtze River to overflow its banks and wash away railroad tracks and close roads. At least 180 people have died in the floods as storms have dumped more than 22 inches of rain in Wuhan — a city of 8 million — alone. Faced with widespread flooding across the Hubei region, which includes submerging villages, the Chinese authorities took drastic measures to ease conditions and keep things from getting worse: They blew up a dam.
And when China decides to blow something up, they go big.
It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense on the surface. Dams and dikes usually prevent flooding, right? Why would you want to blast one to smithereens right in the middle of a terrible flood?
Well, the dam in question was separating two lakes that had been artificially separated in 1979. One of the lakes had risen above safe levels and threatened to spill its banks, while the other remained significantly below. So officials decided to even out the levels and re-unite the lakes in one massive, epic, earth-shattering ka-boom.
How big are we talking? How about 27 metric tons of dynamite, spread across more than two miles of embankment?
See for yourself!
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