Biggest flood peak passes Three Gorges Dam

The biggest flood peak in nine years smoothly passed the Three Gorges Dam as the waterflow into the dam receded on Wednesday morning.

On Wednesday morning, the water inflow into the dam receded to 65,000 cubic meters per second -- 6,000 cubic meters per hour less than the peak flow, according to data released by China's Three Gorges Corporation.

And the water level in the dam rose to 160 meters, which is a new record for the dam's water depth in the flood season this year.

Water inflow into the dam area reached 71,200 cubic meters per second ,which was a higher flow of water than during the devastating 1954 and 1998 Yangtze floods, on 8 p.m. Tuesday evening.

It was the biggest flood peak for the dam since its establishment in 2003. And the dam managed to reduce the force to just 43,000 cubic meters per second.

As the world's largest water hydropower project, the Three Gorges Project consists of a dam, a five-tier ship dock and a total of 32 hydropower turbo-generators.

The project generates electricity, controls flooding by providing storage space and adjusts shipping capacity on the river.

Built to tame annual Yangtze floods and generate power, the dam is capable of holding 22 billion cubic meters of water.