New Delhi, June 7 : Water finally passed the overflowing point of the artificially created Tangjiashan Lake dam, in south west Sichuan Province, early on Saturday morning amid heavy rain.

According to the China Daily, the overspill's impact on the dam and on the hundreds of thousands of people living downstream is yet to be ascertained.

The Tangjiashan Lake is the largest of the more than 30 quake lakes formed when the May 12 earthquake triggered landslides that choked rivers.

Water banked up behind the natural mud-and-rock dam edged past a sluice built by troops in recent days, which meant a partial discharge of floodwaters finally started after days of waiting.

Traffic thinned out in Mianyang, a major city downstream, on Friday night, but there were no signs of panic among locals.

People living along the east bank of the city's Fujiang River, which will be flooded if the lake bursts its bank, had been evacuated. Those on the higher west bank stayed, but were told to remain alert. (ANI)