Premier Li Keqiang chairs a meeting on flood prevention on Tuesday night in Yueyang city after inspecting flood-control work in the flooded areas of the Yangtze and Huaihe rivers during the day. Photo provided to China Daily

Key water conservation projects should be better leveraged, and controlled reservoirs and gate dams should be fully utilized to retain and discharge water, and reduce and shift the flood peaks, Li said.

"We should also improve all kinds of emergency plans, particularly the plan for the orderly evacuation of people, and mobilize the system of collective surveillance and prevention to guard against torrential floods, landslides, mud slides and other disasters," he said, adding that "we need to ensure the effectiveness of the basic jobs of monitoring, forecasting and early warning as well as risk detection and elimination," he said.

"We must always put people first, act in accordance with law and make sound plans for flood prevention and control, and mobilize the widest possible masses, so that we can be fully prepared to fight even the most catastrophic flood and minimize its damage," Li said.