Armed police officers and soldiers struggle to strengthen the Meixi reservoir in Jiangxi Province on July 14, 2010. Since June 7, water levels of the Jiujiang section and Boyang Lake along the Yangtze River have gone beyond the alert level twice. The water level at the Three Gorges Dam reached 150 meters, 5 meters higher than the alert level during flood season. A massive flooding similar to the one in 1998 that killed thousands of people is likely to occur this year, if downpours continue to batter the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River, a flood-control official has warned.