China’s Three Gorges Dam began flood control service two years earlier than scheduled June 6 when demolition teams successfully took down the last cofferdam protecting the dam’s southern wall and power station. The 580-meter-long, 140-m-high cofferdam was tied into dam’s northern wall to impound the Yangtze River. With its removal, the 2,309-m-long, 185-m-high dam will impound the reservoir to its 175-m design level. China Yangtze Three Gorges Project Development Co. officials say the upper 30 m were taken down with 1,000 consecutive explosions. The underwater section will be kept in place.