BEIJING (CNN) -- Flood workers in China's central Hubei province said Saturday they may be forced to blow up dikes in a desperate bid to spare cities downstream of the massive Yangtze River from flooding that has killed more than 2,000 people since it began in June.

To take the pressure off the Yangtze embankments, preparations were in place to dynamite the dikes and open floodgates to divert waters into Hubei's Jingjiang flood plain, thereby protecting weakened embankments downstream.

About 330,000 people were to have been evacuated from the area, although there were conflicting reports about whether the evacuation was complete. Dynamiting the dike will require the approval of China's State Council, or Cabinet.

Meanwhile, emergency teams in Jiujian city -- about 370 kilometers (230 miles) to the east, in Jiangxi province -- were trying to plug a major breach in a dike, caused when a levee partially collapsed.

Tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians were trying to fill a 40-meter (131-foot) hole in an embankment that occurred Friday, releasing a deluge of water. The water flooded parts of the city of 500,000 to a depth of 2 meters (nearly 7 feet), forcing many residents to evacuate.

Emergency teams sank eight boats to try to plug the breach, the Xinhua state-run news agency said. Among the materials used were coal, rice, sand and soybeans.

More than 30,000 soldiers and civilians were building dams to hold back the water, Xinhua reported.

Waiting for blast orders

The Jingjiang flood diversion area has not been used since 1954, when floods killed more than 30,000 people.

"We're prepared," said Chen Zhichao, director of the Jingjiang Flood Diversion Management Bureau. "When the order comes, we are ready to carry it out."

For the order to be given, water levels on the Yangtze would have to reach a record high of 45 meters (149 feet) at Shashi city, just north of the area that would be flooded, Xinhua reported.

Officials said Saturday the water level was just 6 centimeters (2 inches) below that level, but there were contradictory reports as to whether the water level was still rising or had begun to fall.

"The flooding situation remains severe," Xinhua reported Saturday.

There also were contradictory reports about the status of the evacuation ordered in the flood-diversion area. Officials, when pressed for details, gave different accounts to Reuters news service.

One official said the evacuation was "complete," then added: "We are currently, according to orders, still evacuating residents."

A second official said: "All residents in Gong'an county have been transferred to the city of Jingzhou."

"If we explode the dike, more than 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) of land will be submerged [and] 27,000 to 33,000 hectares (68,000 to 82,000 acres) of farmland will be under water," he said.

The emergency flooding is aimed at protecting rich farmland and key cities, including Wuhan, the principal industrial, commercial and transportation center of central China.