BEIJING, Aug 7: China began evacuating more than 300.000 people Friday from land along the raging Yangtze River that could be deliberately flooded in a desperate bid to safeguard areas downstream, reports AP.

With the Yangtze at record levels and rising, officials were preparing to open floodgates and even blow up a dike to divert floodwaters away from one of the most threatened sections of the 6.300-kilometer (3.900-mile)-long river.

In a giant exodus, villagers streamed out the flood-threatened area, leaving their homes behind. Many carried belongings on their back and took livestock with them as they walked "solemnly" away. Xinhua. the state-run news agency, reported.

Local authorities in badly flooded Hubei province declared an around-the-clock curfew over the area designated for

possible flooding. Xinhua said. Only military personnel were permitted in the area.

A decision to proceed with the plan to deliberately flood towns and villages at the Jingjiang section of the Yangtze in Hubei would require the approval of the State Council, or Cabinet.

"The worst moment of the year's flood control efforts is probably coming," the official newspaper China Daily quoted unidentified Yangtze River officials as saying.

The crisis was precipitated by a surge of floodwaters headed down river Friday that officials feared could cause sodden levees weakened by weeks of rain and floods to collapse.

In a nightmare come true for officials, embankments protecting Jiujiang city, down the Yangtze in southeast Jiangxi province, partly collapsed Friday. releasing a torrent of

floodwaters two meters (6.6 feet) deep that began to inundate parts of the city. Xinhua said.

Disaster workers sunk three boats to try to plug the 40-meter (132-foot)-wide breach and attempted to build a second emergency dike, it said.

To reduce pressure on major levees that protect cities and millions of people downstream, officials have already begun abandoning smaller dikes and were preparing to deflect waters into the Jingjiang flood diversion area, where more than 500.000 people live, if need be.

The last time the Yangtze was this high was in 1954. during floods that forced officials to divert water three times. More than 30.000 people died in the flooding that year.

So far this year, more than 2,000 people have died in summer floods that began In June.