Water level in sections of China's longest river exceeds warning mark

BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Water levels in sections of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River -- China's longest river -- below the estuary of Dongting Lake, have exceeded the warning mark, according to the Ministry of Water Resources Tuesday.

The water level at the Yangtze Hankou monitoring station in central China's Hubei Province, had reached 27.31 meters as of late Monday, 0.01 meters above the alert mark, the ministry said.

The Yangtze River will see the water levels of its mainstream in middle and lower reaches continue to rise, according to a flood alert released by the ministry.

The water level of middle and lower reaches of the river as well as Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake basins is expected to gradually fall after Friday, according to the alert.

Persistent and heavy rains have lashed the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River since the areas entered the annual rainy season, known as "plum rain season" on June 18.

On June 28, the Yangtze River experienced its first flood of 2024, as water levels at the Jiujiang hydrological station, one of the major monitoring sites for main stream water levels in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze, had risen to 20 meters, reaching their warning level.

The country's water resources authorities have spared no efforts in flood control work, sending out working groups to guide flood prevention work on the front lines and using reservoirs to ease the pressure on flood control in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.