More than 8,000 are workers reinforcing embankments along a section of the Huaihe River against in preparation of expected heavy rainfall, local authorities said on Friday.

In teams of seven- to- eight people, the workers are racing against time to prepare 300 cubic meters of timber and about 240,000 sand bags and consolidate dikes along a section of river in Lai'an County of Chuzhou City -- one of those prone to flooding in Anhui Province, according to the river's water conservancy committee.

Continuous downpours, expected to bring up to 200 millimeters of rainfall from Friday to Tuesday, would greatly increase water level beyond the warning line in the next few days, said the committee, under the Ministry of Water Resources.

The estimated rainfall is five times the average level recorded during the rainy season of past years, it said.

Water levels at Wangjiaba, a key monitoring site, reached 20.25 meters as of 8:00 AM on Friday, but it is expected to quickly rise above the 27.5-meter alert line if heavy rains continue.

The water level at Wangjiaba hit 28.13 meters after three days of continual rainfall in mid August last year.

Anhui, along the middle reaches of the river in a lowland terrain, is vulnerable to flooding as water pours in from the highland regions of the upper and lower reaches of the river.

The provincial government has ordered 5 million yuan (nearly US$732,000) for flood-prevention efforts.

The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters warned Thursday that the flood situation seemed grim in the Huaihe River region given the forecast of prolonged heavy rainfall.

E Jingping, head of the headquarters office, said some reservoirs and hydropower plants still had serious safety concerns, while many of the flood-prevention projects in the river region were newly-built and might not stand major floods.

He said relocation of people should come first in the event of a flood. The Ministry of Civil Affairs also urged authorities in other provinces along the river to provide adequate food, water, clothing, shelter and medical treatment for people affected by the flood.

Huaihe River originates from Henan Province and runs 1,000 kilometers eastward between the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, cutting through Henan and east China's Anhui and Jiangsu provinces before entering the Yangtze River via the Hongze Lake.

(Xinhua News Agency July 10, 2009)