The embankment, viewed as " the second line of defense" , is located about 2 kilometers from the breached dike and is 14.3 kilometers long, according to Xinhua News Agency.
Yet the river also brought terrible suffering, historically flooding twice every three years and changing course every century. The terrible 1887 flood alone killed approximately 900,000 to 2 million people.
Zhang Yingchun, Hunan's executive vice-governor, said more than 100,000 cubic meters of rock have been used in sealing off the breach, and crews had been sealing off 3.5 meters of the breach an hour.