WUHAN -- Water level at Hankou hydrologic station in Central China, a crucial point of the Yangtze River, dropped Monday, as the flood peak passed through the section, according to the Bureau of Hydrology of the Changjiang Water Resources Commission.

Statistics provided by the bureau showed that the Hankou station in Hubei province registered a water level of 28.74 meters at 5:00 pm Monday, lower than the peak of 28.77 measured at 11:00 pm Sunday.

The peak level this time ranked fourth in history since 1865, after the levels in 1954, 1998, and 1999, according to the bureau.

A previous forecast showed the level would peak at around 29 meters on Tuesday, with the change taking place mainly due to storage adjustments by reservoirs in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, according to Feng Baofei, an engineer with the bureau.