Typhoon Saomai punches east China with heavy rains
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-08-09 14:12
HANGZHOU -- Heavy rainstorms brought by Typhoon Saomai will hit the coastal
and southern parts of east China's Zhejiang Province, the provincial
meteorological observatory has forecasted.
Heavy rains will hit Wenzhou, Taizhou, Ningbo and the eastern part of Lishui
in Zhejiang from Wednesday night till Friday, with winds gusting 70 to 120 km
per hour, said the observatory.
The center of Saomai, the name of the planet Venus in Vietnamese, was located
at sea 1,000 km east-southeast of Wenzhou, with wind speeds of up to 144 km per
hour at 5:00 a.m. Wednesday.
The typhoon is still gathering strength and its center is moving northwest at
a speed of 25 to 30 km per hour, said the observatory.
The observatory warned of possible landslides and mud-rock flows in the
mountainous areas of the province and advised all vessels to return immediately
to harbor.
Typhoon Saomai, the eighth to hit China this year, is expected to make
landfall Thursday afternoon or night between central Zhejiang and the northern
coastal area of neighboring Fujian Province.
Another tropical storm, Bopha, 1,000 km behind Saomai, is moving westward
toward China at a speed of 20 km per hour, according to the local meteorological
observatory of Fujian.
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