国国有媒体报导，被暴雨冲入长江的漂浮物有可能阻塞三峡大坝的一部分。这是已造成近1,000人死亡、导致数起重大工业事故的破坏性洪水带来的最新问题。
政府所有的《中国日报》周一援引中国三峡集团一名官员的话报导说，大量废弃物可能阻塞三峡的一处重要水闸。三峡是世界是最大的大坝。
这名官员名叫陈磊，报导引述他的话说，大坝附近反常的大量漂浮物还可能毁坏周边船只及损害水质。周一无法联络到陈磊置评。
中国每年都会出现致命的洪水，但今年的洪水造成的破坏和死亡人数是1998年以来最严重的。新华社上周援引国家防汛抗旱总指挥部的话报道，截至上周四，已有约968人死亡，另有507人失踪，经济损失总计超过260亿美元。
新华社周一说，中国东北的降雨毁坏了通化市的水管，造成约30万人两天无法获得自来水。新华社还说，当地动用了三百多名工人以求恢复供水，但何时恢复还不清楚。
上周，吉林省两家化工厂仓库中3,662个装有无色、高度爆炸性化学品的原料桶和3,476个空桶被大水冲走，流入一条主要河流的支流。
新华社说，截至周日晚，工人们已打捞出其中的6,387个，相关官员说水质检测表明，松花江未收到污染。松花江是该地区数百万居民的重要饮用水来源。此前，洪水还令中国南方一家铜厂发生化学品流入河流的重大泄漏事故。
也还是在周一，政府部门将河南一座桥梁垮塌造成的死亡人数增至51人，并说仍有15人失踪。据国有媒体报道，目击者说7月24日大桥垮塌时一群人正聚集在这座建造了20年的桥上观看桥下汹涌的河水。
从拍摄三峡大坝附近垃圾的照片中可以看到，吊车正吊起大量的树枝、塑料袋、瓶子以及其他蔓延在大坝上方蓄水池中的垃圾。
《中国日报》援引陈磊的话说，垃圾问题对三峡大坝的运营者来说是个长期性问题，但在最近洪水来临期间，垃圾量急剧增加。
中国每年人均产生垃圾286磅，美国为1,650磅。不过在北京、上海等大城市，这一数字接近于880磅。
Floating garbage washed into the Yangtze River by torrential rains is threatening to clog part of the giant Three Gorges Dam, Chinese state media reported, the latest problem caused by devastating floods that have killed nearly 1,000 people and triggered several major industrial accidents.
The large volumes of waste could jam a key floodgate on the world's biggest dam, the government-owned China Daily newspaper reported Monday, citing an official with China Three Gorges Corp.
The official, Chen Lei, was quoted as saying that the unusually large amount of debris near the dam also could damage boats nearby and hurt water quality. Mr. Chen couldn't be reached Monday to comment.
Deadly floods are an annual affair in China, but this year's floods have caused the most damage and loss of life since 1998. Some 968 people had been killed as of Thursday and an additional 507 were missing, and economic losses totaled more than $26 billion, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported last week, citing the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.
On Monday, Xinhua said rains in the country's northeast -- far from the Three Gorges site in central China -- had damaged water pipelines in the city of Tonghua, leaving some 300,000 people without tap water for two days. More than 300 workers had been mobilized to restore the water supply, but it wasn't clear when the supply would be resumed, Xinhua said.
Last week, floods in two chemical-plant warehouses in the same province, Jilin, washed 3,662 barrels filled with colorless and highly explosive chemicals, and an additional 3,476 empty barrels, into the tributary of a major river.
As of Sunday night, workers had recovered 6,387 of the barrels, and officials said water tests showed the Songhua River, a major drinking source for millions of residents in the region, hadn't been contaminated, Xinhua said. That incident followed a major chemical spill into a river in southern China by a copper plant hit by flooding.
Also on Monday, authorities raised the death toll from a bridge collapse in Henan province to 51 and said 15 people remained missing. Witnesses said a crowd had gathered on the two-decade-old bridge July 24 to watch the surging river below when the bridge collapsed, according to state media.
Photos of the garbage near Three Gorges show cranes lifting lumps of tree branches, plastic bags and bottles, and other trash spreading across the reservoir above the dam.
Garbage is a chronic problem for Three Gorges operators, but the levels have surged during the recent flooding, China Daily quoted Mr. Chen as saying.
Chinese on average produce 286 pounds of garbage a year per person, compared with 1,650 pounds in the U.S. But the figure is closer to 880 pounds in richer cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.