Typhoon Cimaron is expected to hit southeast China Thursday evening, the national weather observatory said.

Cimaron, the eighth tropical storm to hit China this year, is expected to make landfall near Zhangpu County in Fujian Province around 8 p.m., the National Meteorological Center (NMC) said.

Cimaron is forecast to bring nearly 160 mm of rain to parts of Fujian and Guangdong provinces, as well as Taiwan, from Thursday afternoon to Friday morning.

The NMC also issued a blue alert for rainstorms on Thursday, predicting that rain will hit the Sichuan Basin, parts of north China and areas along the Yellow and Huaihe rivers, as well as parts of the Tibet Autonomous Region and the provinces of Shaanxi, Liaoning, Jilin and Yunnan on Thursday and Friday.

Some of the areas will have precipitation of 100 to 180 mm, with thunderstorms and gales.

China has a four-tier color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe weather, followed by orange, yellow and blue. Endi