BEIJING, April 15 -- The environment body on Friday warned that the onset of an earlier and more serious flood season due to the El Nino effect, meant that environmental emergencies were more likely.

The Ministry of Environment Protection urged local environment departments to ramp up security checks of known polluting factories and facilities.

Nuclear facilities were identified as the top priority, the ministry said in a statement. Environmental indices around nuclear power plants will be monitored more regularly and there will be more checks on the storage and transportation of radiative substance.

In addition, the monitoring of major rivers, lakes and sources of drinking water will also be increased. All environment departments must share information and coordinate with weather, water resources and safety control agencies.

According to the Ministry of Water Resources, the El Nino event, which began in September 2014, has been the longest and strongest of its kind since observation records began in 1951.

As a result of the El Nino effect, serious flooding is highly possible in the Yangtze drainage area and the flood control and drought relief situation is extremely serious, said Liu Ning, vice minister of water resources, at a meeting last month.

The strong El Nino event, expected to come to an end in May, is similar to the one that triggered the heavy flooding of the Yangtze in 1998, which resulted in 1,320 fatalities.

In March, floods hit some tributaries of the Yangtze.