Heavy rains in eastern China have pushed up water levels in the Yangtze River and major lakes and put heavy pressure on the region's flood control work.

Flood prevention departments in Anhui Province have sped up their efforts to handle potential flood threats.

Zhou Jianchun is vice director of the provincial bureau that manages the river.

"All these sands and rocks will play an important role in improving our province's capacity to prevent floods. They will help defend a major flood which happens once each one hundred years."

About 400 kilometers of the Yangtze River flow through the eastern province.

Authorities have stored 350 thousand tons of sand and rocks to prevent floods.

Seventy-seven stations that store the materials have distributed them along the banks of the Yangtze River.

In neighboring Jiangsu Province, the Taihu Lake has seen its waters exceed warning levels for more than 10 days.

Neighboring Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces also have taken measures to prevent possible floods.