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Draining Quake Lake Floods China Town

Posted Jun 10, 08 6:44 AM CDT in World 

(Newser) – A town devastated by the Sichuan earthquake was flooded today as soldiers worked to drain a dangerous quake lake, reports Reuters. Water whooshed into Beichuan after explosives and missiles were used to blast holes in the dam created by the earthquake. Some 250,000 people downstream had already been evacuated.

The water level in the dangerously unstable dam is now steadily falling, but the flooding of the earthquake-ravaged town has brought fresh sorrow to survivors. Many had hoped that the bodies of their loved ones could still be retrieved from the rubble, along with valuables and mementos. "Now I guess we can never go back," said one man as he watched the water rush in. "This is heartbreaking."

Source Reuters

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A bridge is destroyed by floods in the worst earthquake-hit area of Beichuan county, in China's southwestern province of Sichuan on June 10, 2008.   (Getty Images)
Te drainage of the Tangjiashan quake lake is seen in southwest China's Sichuan Province Tuesday, June 10, 2008.   (AP Photo/Xinhua, Li Gang)
A security guard smokes near sandbags piled up against the glass wall to a bank in Mianyang, southwestern China's Sichuan province, Monday, June 9, 2008.   (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Engineers measure the drainage discharge in Tangjiashan, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Sunday, June 8, 2008. T   (AP Photo/Xinhua, Li Gang)
This photo taken from a mountain top shows the earthquake-hit area of Beichuan county as it is flooded, in China's southwestern province of Sichuan on June 10, 2008.   (Getty Images)
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earthquake  • flood  • China earthquake  • Sichuan province  • disaster zones  • dam  • Tangjiashan


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