The officials based their conclusion on the high possibility of massive rainfall in the Yangtze's middle and lower reaches during this year's impending flood season, mainly due to the influence of El Nino.

But they also expressed great confidence in the river's embankments, which were painstakingly fortified at a cost of billions of US dollars in government investment after the catastrophic 1998 flood.

Luo Qingquan, chief commander of the Yangtze River Flood-Control General Headquarters based in Central China's Hubei Province, said government officials in provinces along the river must be on the alert from now on.

"We must prepare for possible deluges. We must consider the situation as seriously as possible and we must take as many precautions as possible,'' Luo told a flood-control conference held in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province.

Meteorological and water-resource experts predicted that most areas of the river's upper reaches will experience more rainfall when the flooding period comes.

Senior water-conservancy officials and experts from Shanghai and seven provinces along the river gathered in Wuhan on Friday to discuss measures against possible floods.

Until the Three Gorges dam project is completed, provinces along the river are mainly relying on reinforced embankments, reservoirs and flood-water storage areas to control flooding.

When the dam starts to operate in 2009, it will be able to store 22.15 billion cubic meters of flood water. It will then be able to alleviate the pressure of flooding on riverside cities. Luo said the improved flood-control system should be ready by 2010.

Luo said he hoped provinces along the river would speed up their flood-control work.

"Floods are still considered the major (potential) disaster for these provinces, which account for one-fifth of the nation's gross domestic product,'' said Luo.

At the end of April, Cai Qihua, commander-in-chief of the headquarters, said that, even if there is flooding this summer and it is as ferocious as that of 1998 when hundreds of people were killed, people today could still feel at ease as they are now protected by more than 3,500 kilometers of fortified embankments.

The 1998 flooding caused the breach of some sections of outdated Yangtze dykes. Following this, the Chinese Government invested more than 29 billion yuan (US$3.5 billion) to strengthen or rebuild embankments, especially those along the river's middle and lower reaches. The project was completed last year.

The danger water level for the once-breached Jiujiang section of the Yangtze River embankment has been raised ahead of the upcoming flood season due to the improved flood-control capability.

The danger water level for the 196-kilometre section of the Yangtze River embankment was increased by half a meter to 20 meters at three major water-level monitoring stations, said Zhu Laiyou, secretary-general of the Flood-Control and Drought-Prevention Headquarters of the Jiangxi provincial government.

He said the move meant that local areas would save a lot of labor power and other resources when patrolling the section during flood seasons.

"The capability of the reinforced embankment has been improved, so we changed the danger water levels accordingly,'' he said.

(China Daily May 10, 2003)