China's longest river, the Yangtze, had its first flood peak of the year, with the Three Gorges Dam experiencing peak inflows of 53,000 cubic meters per second at 2 p.m. Thursday local time. The water level had reached 146.97 meters, and the dam captured much of the water and cut outflow to 35,500 cubic meters per second. Three Gorges Reservoir stores flood water in the summer and releases it during the dry season to ease droughts.