China launched a level III emergency response for flood control on Monday as the country monitored its first major river flood of 2021, said the Ministry of Water Resources (MWR).

The water inflow of the Nierji Reservoir, located on the main stream of the Nenjiang River in northeast China, reached 4,160 cubic meters per second at 2 p.m. on Monday, according to the ministry.

The water levels on the middle and lower reaches of the Nenjiang River may exceed the warning levels, said the MWR.

The ministry has dispatched three work teams to the provincial regions of Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia to guide local flood-control work, and urged efforts to strengthen the monitoring of weather as well as dike inspection and reinforcement.