Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has ordered local authorities to adopt scientific measures to get well prepared for "more serious floods and disasters" as some of the country's major rivers saw water levels surpassing their warning levels.

Wen said China is now at its "crucial stage" for flood control during an inspection tour in central China's Hubei Province started from July 23.

The upper reaches of the Yangtze River, the nation's longest river, have seen the highest flood peak since 1987.

(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2010)