Flood alert in Poyang Lake area downgraded to the second-highest level

The Changjiang (Yangtze) Water Resources Commission on Tuesday downgraded its alert for floods in the Poyang Lake area in east China's Jiangxi Province from the top level to the second highest.

Flooding in the Poyang Lake has passed its peak and the waters are slowly receding, said provincial authorities on Tuesday.

Latest figures showed the country's largest freshwater lake is still 3.45 meters higher its alert level, according to the authorities. 

On Friday, the commission issued a red floods alert, the top level on China's four-tier scale, in the area. Days later, the lake reached a historic high of 22.6 meters on Monday – 3.6 meters past its most extreme alert level.