BEIJING - The south Chinese island of Hainan called ships back to harbour and suspended train ferries to the mainland on Wednesday as it braced for the arrival of the second tropical storm to hit this year.
The storm is expected to make landfall on the east coast of the resort island bringing strong winds and heavy rain.
"The provincial disaster relief office has ordered ships offshore to get back to harbours and some 19,082 vessels have returned or are on the way back so far," Xinhua news agency said.
South China is hit by about a dozen typhoons a year, swirling in from the South China Sea and often battering the Philippines and threatening Hong Kong first.
The first tropical storm to hit the region this year last month intensified into a typhoon and killed more than 100 people in the Philippines, Vietnam and China.
Much of south China has already been plagued by torrential rain in recent weeks. Floods and landslides have killed 170 people have forced the evacuation of 1.6 million.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
