200,000 people in Mianyang City have been ordered to evacuate to higher ground as engineers prepare to release water from the Tangjiashan barrier lake. Troops continue to remove debris to cut a channel for the water.
Tangjiashan Lake is the most dangerous of the lakes caused by landslides in the earthquake. 1.3 million people living downstream are at risk.
To minimize the danger, a plan has been made to discharge one third of the lake water, meaning some 200,000 people need to leave.
On Thursday afternoon, the Mianyang city government ordered the 200,000 people to move to higher ground. Now, most of them are in safe places and being taken care of. By Saturday morning, all of them should have reached safety.
Meanwhile, non-stop efforts are being made to make a deep channel to discharge the water. Aerial views show that the channel is almost ready.
The official in charge of the operation says the channel will be finished by Sunday. Time is of the essence because the water level in the lake has been rising by two meters a day.
Liu Ning, Chief Engineer of Ministry of Water Resources said "At the rate that water is building up in the lake, it will start flowing over the lowest part of the barrier within four to five days."
That means the water must be discharged by then.
More than 700 armed police and technicians have been working on the channel since Monday.
