BEIJING, June 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Strong rainfall is expected to pound the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in the coming ten days and trigger more floods and landslides, but the Three Gorges Project under construction will not be affected and is ready to help mitigate the effects of severe weather.

    The information was released Saturday by experts with the China Meteorological Bureau at a consultation conference on weather changes in the lower and middle reaches of the Yangtze River, including the areas around the Three Gorges Project.

    Cloudy, rainy weather will dominate the Three Gorges area in the coming ten days, with strong rainfall predicted on Saturday and Sunday, and from Tuesday to Friday.

    The coming heavy rain will stretch the flood control capacity at the Yangtze River, including areas at the Three Gorges, with more floods and landslides expected, but it will not threaten the Three Gorges Project, which is capable of helping control floods this year, said Xiao Ziniu, deputy director-general of the National Meteorological Center under the China Meteorological Administration.

    The Three Gorges Project, in its third phase of construction, will shoulder no flood control responsibility this year, but it has already prepared 1.8 billion cubic meters of reservoir space for flood control by lowering the water level in the reservoir from 139 to 135 meters on May 23 before the flood season, said Zhou Xianzheng, deputy director of the technology and equipment department under the Office of State Council Three Gorges Project Construction Committee.

    The reservoir's capacity for flood control will increase to 11 billion cubic meters next year, and to 22.1 billion cubic meters in 2009, a capacity designed to effectively fight floods, he said.

    In the coming ten days in the Three Gorges area rainfall is predicted to be 35 to 50 millimeters in the Jialing and Mintuo rivers, more than typical 30-45 millimeters in previous years; therainfall will be 60 to 80 millimeters in the other rivers, as against 50 to 65 millimeters in previous years.

    Most parts of China entered flood season in June. The Yangtze River will enter an even more rainy period starting mid-June.

    The Three Gorges Project, the largest water control project in China, was designed to help control flooding in the Yangtze and increase the country's power supply.