Picture taken on June 10, 2008 from a helicopter shows the outfall of the main quake-induced lake in Tangjiashan of southewest China's Sichuan Province. [Photo: Xinhua]
China cancelled an alert on the main Tangjiashan "quake lake" Wednesday after experts said there was no more danger of flood.
The outflow from the lake dropped to 56 cubic meters per second at 11:15 a.m. Wednesday, far below the threshold for alert of 1,000 cubic meters per second, according to the Tangjiashan Lake emergency rescue headquarters.
The alert was called off at 4 p.m. as experts with the headquarters said the outflow was unlikely to cause flooding for downstream areas.
The lake's water level kept dropping Wednesday as drainage efforts continued. The level stood at 714.13 meters at 2 p.m., down from Tuesday's highest mark of 743.1 meters.
Liu Qibao, Communist Party chief of the southwestern Sichuan Province, declared on Tuesday the drainage of the swollen lake has scored "a decisive victory."
More than half of the 250 million cubic meter volume had been discharged and the number of people under threat had dropped from 1.3 million to less than 50,000, he said.
(Xinhua News Agency June 12, 2008)