Samenxia Dam In China Opened Floodgate Without Notice Lead To 2 Deaths

According to footages on Chinese social media platforms, on the first day of Chinese New Year, January 22nd, Sanmenxia Dam in Henan province opened its floodgate without precaution and many local residents were flushed away with the current. The witness saw the river level rise 1.8 meters in only 6 minutes. At the time of the incident, the Dam was functional well. The location where people were flooded is a few kilometres away from the Dam, and there were fences and warning signs. Staff from the Dam claims that opening the floodgate is an order from their superior department. “We are not letting water out, we are doing regular maintenance,” said the staff. After the incident, local police department, emergency department and firefighting departments all launched rescue operations. Until the afternoon in the same day, 10 people were rescued. Among the 10 flooded, 6 returned home with little to no injury or harm, 2 were hospitalised, and 2 were dead. At the night of the same day, rescue operation was still ongoing.

The Dam’s sudden and un-warned decision to open the floodgate was widely questioned and reprimanded by the public. Even worse, the public received only lip-service explanations from the Dam. This is very typical under the Chinese communist dictatorship, and this is just a fraction of what happens in Communist China.