Soldiers, engineers evacuated from quake lake

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Source: CCTV.com | 06-02-2008 13:25

Nearly all of the remaining group of soldiers and engineers in the Tangjiashan barrier lake area were evacuated by helicopter by Sunday afternoon. Only a few of them are staying at the site to monitor the situation. Experts predict the lake will overflow its banks on Tuesday, if there is no precipitation on Monday.

The major project of a sluice -- an irregular cube  designed to discharge flooded water -- from the Tangjiashan Lake is completed at quake-induced Tangjiashan Lake in  southwest China's Sichuan Province, May 31, 2008. The  first group of 15 earthquake relief workers handling the Tangjiashan quake-formed lake in China's Sichuan Province boarded a helicopter at 8:35 a.m. Saturday and were evacuated from the dam site.(Xinhua Photo)

Helicopters carrying the last major group of 620 soldiers and engineers are heading to Mianyang city. By 6 pm on Sunday afternoon, there were only 20 soldiers and experts left on the upper banks of the barrier lake. Experts have set up a monitoring network covering over 3,500 square kilometers of the lake's upstream area.

12 monitoring stations have been set up to collect information about precipitation, water level variations and meteorological conditions.

The diversion project to drain quake-formed Tangjiashan Lake was completed late on Saturday.

The evacuees, mainly members of the water and electricity section of the People's Armed Police Force, prepare to  board on the helicopter at the dam site of quake-induced Tangjiashan Lake in southwest China's Sichuan Province,  May 31, 2008. The first group of 15 earthquake relief  workers handling the Tangjiashan quake-formed lake in China's Sichuan Province boarded a helicopter at 8:35 a.m. Saturday and were evacuated from the dam site. (Xinhua Photo)

By 10 pm on Saturday, about 135,500 cubic meters of mud and rocks had been removed from Tangjiashan barrier lake.

Soldiers from the armed police and experts had been working at the site against extremely adverse conditions for six consecutive days and nights.

Their combined efforts created a 475-meter-long, 12-meter wide channel to divert waters from the giant blockage. Originally, the channel was only supposed to be 10 meters wide.

But experts say the canal will reduce but not totally eliminate damage from the overflowing water to the lower reaches.

The overflowing water is expected to reach the downtown area of Mianyang city within five hours after overflowing its barrier lake banks.