Vessels resumed passing through the Three Gorges Dam Thursday afternoon, after the dam was closed for over three days amid large water flows on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, China's largest river.

Ship locks on the dam were reopened as water flows - which had reached 70,000 cubic meters per second Tuesday - fell to about 45,000 cubic meters per second on Thursday, China Three Gorges Corporation officials said.

Long lines of ships are now slowly passing through the dam, the world's largest, under the direction of authorities.

During the closure, a 30-kilometer road which had been used exclusively by reservoir construction and maintenance vehicles was temporarily opened to other vehicles so passengers and cargo could be transported.