The Three Gorges Dam started releasing water earlier than scheduled to combat a worsening drought in the Yangtze. According to officials from the dam, at 4pm on 25 October, water was released at a rate of 9,160 cubic metres per second.

The middle reaches of the Yangtze have seen little rain since August. As a result, water levels have been reduced to their lowest level in 20 years, both on the trunkline and on major tributaries such as Dongting and Boyang lakes. The dry season, which usually starts in October, has effectively arrived 40 days early.

In the lower reaches, Jiujiang, Anqing, Wuhu and Nanjing are suffering from their lowest water levels since 1986. In Wuhu, at 8am on 22 October, the water level was just 2 metres, a full 1.7 metres lower than at the same time last year.

The water level at the dam was 170.52 metres at 5pm on 25 October, 11cm higher than on the previous day. The water is scheduled to reach a level of 175 metres for the first time this year. There is no indication yet whether the current increased volume of released water would affect the realisation of this target.