Boats anchor at the Xinggang Port in Haikou city, South China's Hainan province, July 21, 2010. Chanthu strengthened into a typhoon from a strong tropical storm at about 5 p.m. Wednesday when it was 220 kilometers southeast of Hainan's Wenchang City, according to Hainan meteorological authorities. [Xinhua]

Chanthu, the third tropical storm of the season, is expected to make a landfall on coastal areas of southern China's Guangdong Province Thursday noon, according to meteorologists from the neighboring province of Hainan, which is on the route of the typhoon.

Chanthu, with winds at its center about 126 kilometers per hour, is moving northwestward at a speed of 15 km per hour.

It is expected to land on the area between Dianbai and Xuwen of Guangdong. Nine cities and counties in eastern and northern parts of Hainan would be affected, the local meteorologists said.

By 7:50 a.m. Thursday, 26 flights in and out of Haikou Meilan International Airport in the provincial capital of Hainan had been canceled, airport officials said.

The officials said passengers having arrived at the airport had been provided with free hotel services, and no passengers were stranded at the airport by now.

According to earlier report, all 26,126 fishing boats in the island province of Hainan had returned to port.