Typhoon Dianmu, the eighth typhoon this year, made landfall in Leizhou, Guangdong province, around 3:40 pm on Thursday, battering southern coastal regions with gales and torrential rains.

The typhoon will move west into Beibu Gulf on Thursday night, and grow stronger to affect Guangdong, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and Yunnan province, the National Meteorological Center said. It is forecast to make a second landfall that will batter Vietnam on Friday.

Hainan province has been hit by downpours since Monday, due to the influence of the approaching tropical storm, and stronger downpours since Wednesday, the Central Meteorological Observatory said on Friday.