Engineering Strategies on Flood Control in Middle Reach of Yangtze River, China

Flood disaster has been a serious hidden danger since the ancient time. The essential cause for the fact that floods have not been eliminated for hundreds of years is that time honored strategies do not suit the cases of flood prevention. In the view of geological environmental analyses of flood formation and from the synthesis of experiences gained in flood control in the past hundreds of years, sluggish draining of flood, silt sedimentation in channel and building levee blindly constitute the main cause of intractable flood for a long time in the middle reach of the Yangtze River. Draining away silt and water is the only way to stamping out flood disaster. Opening up artificial waterways for flood diversion, draining away the silt of channel into the polders, and storing the flood water are important engineering measures for the flood control and damage reduction.