December 28, 2012 Tsunami: Zhaojun Bridge, Hubei Province, China

A van was hit by a wave of water created by a landslide Friday in central China's Hubei Province, leaving two people injured and damaging the Zhaojun Bridge, which temporarily suspended traffic. The van was driving down the middle of the Zhaojun Bridge at around 10:00 when strong wave pushed the van back about one meter. It was fortunate that no one on the van itself was injured, and that the two people crossing in the bridge were not injured seriously. "I was driving when I saw the rocks falling ahead. Then my van was pushed about one meter back by the splash. It was like the earthquake, and tsunami," said Liu Maoqing, the van's driver. The mountain of the landslide itself was 500 meters away from the Zhaojun Bridge, and the volume of the rocks that fell was more than 10,000 cubic meters. According to the reconnaissance by technical personnel of local Land and Resources Bureau, the landslide was caused by long-term physical weathering. (reference #10372)

The Zhaojun Bridge Rockfall occurred on the Xiangxi River, a tributary of the Three Gorges Reservoir, around 10:00 A.M. on Dec. 28, 2012, when the reservoir level was about 175 m a.s.l. Failure took place in the west side of the Shendu River mouth, 57.5 m away from Zhaojun Bridge that strides over two rivers. The middle pier of the Bridge is located on a spur, and the rockfall was located on the north side of the Shendu River mouth […] As reported by local residents, the rockfall collapsed as a single body. Waves generated when the rockfall fell into water had 2 m ran up above the bridge deck. A passenger car was impacted, two pedestrians were hurt by rolling rocks, and the wave run-up on the opposite bank was 3.4–5.2 m, which caused damages to some farmlands and vendor stalls on the deck, and certain economic loss to local residents (reference #13825)