BEIJING -- The Three Gorges Dam on Thursday saw the arrival of the Yangtze River's first flood of the year, with preparations in place to ease the flood's impact on the river's lower reaches, according to the dam's managing authority.

The flood arrived with a flow rate of 50,000 cubic meters of water per second, and the flood crest is expected to feed 53,000 cubic meters per second, said the China Three Gorges Corporation.

A discharge was organized in early June to ensure enough storage capacity for flood control, enabling the dam to absorb up to 18,000 cubic meters of water per second during this round of flooding, to take the edge off the deluge.

Since June, continuous downpours have lashed large parts of southern China, and the waters of many rivers in the affected regions exceeded warning levels.

The Three Gorges project is a multi-functional water control system, consisting of a 2,309-meter-long and 185-meter-high dam, a five-tier ship lock on the north and south, and 34 turbo-generators with a combined generating capacity of 22.5 million kilowatts.