  We study the formation of finite time singularities of the Kahler-Ricci flow
in relation to high codimensional birational surgery in algebraic geometry. We
show that the Kahler-Ricci flow on an n-dimensionl Kahler manifold contracts a
complex submanifold $\mathbb{P}^m$ with normal bundle
$\oplus_{j=1}^{n-m}\mathcal{O}_{\mathbb{P}^m}(-a_j)$ for $a_j\in\mathbb{Z}^+$
and $\sum_{j=1}^{n-m} a_j \leq m$ in Gromov-Hausdorff topology with suitable
initial Kahler class. We also show that the Kahler-Ricci flow resolves a family
of isolated singularities uniquely in Gromov-Hausdorff topology. In particular,
we construct global and local examples of metric flips by the Kahler-Ricci flow
as a continuous path in Gromov-Hausdorff topology.
