MIANYANG, China (AP) -- Evacuees headed down from temporary camps Wednesday after Chinese authorities declared the flood threat over from an earthquake-formed lake that was successfully drained the day before.

Soldiers dug a diversion channel and blasted away boulders and large debris with dynamite, bazookas and recoilless guns to speed up the drainage of the lake, created after last month's devastating earthquake triggered a landslide of debris. On Tuesday, churning water poured through a man-made sluice and engulfed low-lying, empty towns but spared larger areas downstream.
Sichuan province's Communist Party chief, Liu Qibao, declared ""decisive victory"" after more than half the 66 billion gallons of water drained off by Tuesday evening, easing pressure on a dam formed when the quake triggered a landslide of mud, rocks and other debris, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
More than 250,000 people had moved to high ground due to concerns that the barrier holding back Tangjiashan lake could break. About 1.3 million people live downstream.
In Sichuan province's Mianyang, the largest urban area directly threatened by the quake lake, people were again setting up tents and improvised shelters along city sidewalks on Wednesday, confident the flood threat had passed. Soldiers helped people carry mattresses and carts and motorized vehicles passed by loaded with plastic stools and bottled water.
Although they remained homeless, residents said conditions closer to home were far superior to those in the hastily erected camps in the hills where some had been living for almost two weeks.
""Life wasn't so good up there. When it rained the water didn't drain and sometimes it reached up to our ankles,"" said street sweeper Zhao Shuping, 46, who sought shelter on higher ground on June 2.
The Fu river running through the city was running high and fast, and life remained far from returning to normal. Many city residents continue to sleep outdoors because of damage to their apartments or fear of the aftershocks that continue to shake the region. Large numbers of businesses were closed, some with sandbags stacked at their entrances to guard against flood waters.
In the narrow valley town of Beichuan, empty after being flattened in the quake, a rush of murky brown gray water from the Tangjiashan lake washed away a metal pedestrian bridge spanning a river on Tuesday and scraped away at river banks. But on Wednesday the water appeared to have subsided and was calm.
The swirl of muddy water roaring past towns and villages swept along trees, barrels, television sets, refrigerators ""and the occasional dead bodies of quake victims,"" Xinhua reported.
""The best situation is to completely clear out the water in the Tangjiashan lake before the flood season. The water level is likely to linger around 720 meters (2,300 feet) for a period of time,"" said Water Resources Minister Chen Lei, according to Xinhua.
The 7.9 magnitude quake on May 12 killed 69,146 people, and 17,516 are still missing, the government said Tuesday. About 5 million people are homeless.
Also Tuesday, searchers discovered the wreckage of a helicopter that crashed deep in the mountains May 31 while ferrying people injured in last month's quake, Xinhua said.
The remains of the five-person crew and 12 quake victims were found at the crash site near the town of Yingxiu, it said. The wreckage was spread over a wide area.
Staff at Wolong, the world's most famous panda reserve, buried a 9-year-old female who was killed in a landslide triggered by the quake. Another Wolong panda, Xiao Xiao, is missing. Forty-seven other pandas still live at Wolong, while others have been moved to Sichuan's provincial capital of Chengdu and Beijing.