Audra Ang of AP reports that the once foreboding “quake lake” is no longer a major threat to residents:
Water churned through a drainage channel and engulfed empty towns Tuesday after Chinese soldiers blasted away the debris that kept an earthquake-formed lake threatening more than a million people downstream.
Sichuan province’s Communist Party chief, Liu Qibao, declared “decisive victory” after more than half the 66 billion gallons of water drained off by early evening, easing pressure on a dam formed when the quake triggered a landslide of mud, rocks and other debris, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
More than 250,000 people had already moved to high ground due to concerns that the barrier holding back Tangjiashan lake could break. About 1.3 million people live downstream.
