As Guangdong province is hit by heavy rain, government departments are being urged to take steps to prevent natural disasters.

Meteorologists in the province said the cities of Lianjiang, Gaozhou, Huazhou and Xinyi in western Guangdong issued red warnings on Thursday, the highest level in the four-tier warning system, signaling to residents that they should prepare for trouble.

Local departments were urged to give priority to reinforcing the dikes of rivers and reservoirs and to be aware of possible landslides, flooding and related geological hazards in the coming days.

The water level of the Beijiang and Dongjiang tributaries of the Pearl River rose on Thursday, along with water in the Hanjiang River and some major reservoirs.

Guangzhou and Shenzhen, big cities in the Pearl River Delta, have issued yellow warnings, the second-highest warning level for rainstorms on Thursday, as many local roads have been flooded, causing heavy traffic jams in some busy downtown areas.

The Guangdong Meteorological Service said heavy rain would continue to strike the province in the week ahead.

In Guangzhou and the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, public security, traffic and education departments are doing what they can to ensure that the national college entrance examinations, or gaokao, proceed despite the extreme weather.

In addition to opening special green channels for students taking the gaokao, many high schools in Guangzhou have designated dressing rooms on their campuses for students to change clothes after getting soaked in the rain. The dressing rooms are equipped with new school uniforms, slippers, towels, tissues and hair dryers.

Many schools have prepared brown sugar and ginger soups to help the students keep warm.

The annual three-day gaokao,which ends on Thursday, is an important event for Chinese high school graduates. Nearly 580,000 high school graduates were tested in Guangzhou this year.