Tangjiashan Flood Alert Lifted And Latest Satellite Images

The outflow from the Tangjiashan quake lake has slowed to 56 cu. meters a second and the water level has dropped nearly 30 meters from its peak, officials said Wednesday. They have also lifted the flood alert as fears of downstream flooding receded. At those outflow rates the lake is likely to fill up a [...]

Tangjiashan Quake Lake Drains

The Tiangjiashan quake lake is draining, and officials have declared a “decisive victory”. Like Wellington said after the Battle of Waterloo, it was a damned close run thing.
Without demeaning the 10-day effort put into cutting drainage channels in extremely trying  conditions, it was in the end the crude tactic of blasting holes in the rock [...]

New Satellite Images Of Tangjiashan Quake Lake As Waters, Worries Rise

New satellite pictures via NASA (.pdf), from which the snapshots below are taken, comparing the Tangjiashan lake on May 14 and June 3.

Officials had hoped that the water levels in the lake would peak on June 6, but despite the opening of the spillway, they continue to do so. By Monday the waters were reported [...]

Aftershock Creates Fresh Threat To Tangjiashan Quake Lake

The level of the Tangjiashan quake lake appears to be continuing to rise despite the spillway being opened on Saturday to sluice it. Another strong aftershock on Sunday caused new landslides and fresh fears about the stability of the one that created the lake in the first place by damming the Tongkou River. Crews were [...]

Sluicing Of Tangjiashan Quake Lake Starts

Sluicing of the Tangjiashan quake lake has started. Water levels reached the lip of the spillway cut earlier in the week on Saturday. Xinhua reports that work crews are trying to improve the flow so water can drain faster. The sluicing will stop the level of the lake rising further and hold the waters at [...]

Tangjiashan Remains A Catastrophic Threat

Its all gone relatively quiet over the draining of Tangjiashan, the quake-created lake that is top of the list of those at risk of catastrophic bursting.
Sluicing was meant to have started last week following a well-publicized effort to cut a drainage channel. The latest aftershock, a 5.3 that occurred on Thursday and sent waves across [...]

Barrier Lakes Are New Quake Concern

Barrier lakes — those formed by earthquake induced landslides — are the new concern. The Sichuan quake on May 12 created 35 of them, 34 in Sichuan, according to E Jingping, vice-minister for water resources. The situation is still grim, Xinhua reports him as saying, with heavy rains forecast for early this week. Evacuation [...]