Three Gorges Dam was quoted in the "China Youth Daily" saying that the People's Republic of China would be "seriously on guard against threats from Taiwan independence terrorists." The Three Gorges Dam is a steel-concrete gravity dam. The water is held back by the innate mass of the individual dam sections. As a result, damage to an individual section should not affect other parts of the dam. Due to the sheer size of the dam, it is expected to withstand tactical nuclear strikes. Days after the first filling of the reservoir, around 80 hairline cracks were observed in the dam's structure. The submerged
Gorges State Park recovered from the interference of man to provide a thriving and unique habitat. One of the most damaging interferences to the Gorges environment occurred in 1916 when the dam containing Lake Toxaway broke. Record amounts of water gushed southward down the Toxaway River, destroying the communities in its path, scouring the gorges and leaving piles of debris 15 to high. Following the flood, local citizens eventually sold large land tracts in the Gorges to Singer Sewing Machine Company, which logged most of the land. Then, in the 1940s and 1950s, Singer sold the land to Duke Energy Corporation. The corporation