More than 266,000 people working at sea have been recalled to land in east China's Fujian Province as tropical storms Pabuk and Wutip approached on Wednesday.

An official with the provincial flood control headquarters said all 50,401 fishing vessels had returned to harbor, while more than 266,000 fishery workers and sailors were back on land by 9:30 AM Wednesday.

Pabuk, named after a type of large freshwater fish in Laos, made landfall in south Taiwan on Wednesday morning. It is moving north-northwest at a speed of 25 km per hour and is expected to land in Shantou, south China's Guangdong Province on Wednesday evening, according to the Fujian Meteorological Observatory.

The eighth tropical storm of this year Wutip, which means butterfly, came into being in the Pacific Ocean to the east of the Philipines at 8:00 AM on Wednesday.

Wutip, with its center at 20 degrees north and 125.2 degrees east, is moving northwest and is forecast to hit Fujian on Friday afternoon.

It would be more powerful than Pabuk, said Lin Xinbiao, deputy director of the Fujian Meteorology Observatory.

Lin said the central and southern parts of Fujian would see heavy rains on Wednesday and Thursday with precipitations up to 150 mm.

The education department of Fujian has ordered all schools to suspend classes until the storms have passed, while the provincial tourism bureau has closed all sight spots along the coast by Wednesday morning.

In the neighboring Zhejiang Province, ships and boats are also urged to return and seek shelter in the harbors, said sources with the maritime affairs bureau of the province.

The Shantou city of Guangdong Province is on full alert for the arrival of Pabuk, with vessels recalled to harbor. Water resources authorities have launched inspections of all reservoirs and ponds and farmers have been told to harvest crops and fruit if possible. All kindergartens suspended classes on Wednesday.

More than 60 Hong Kong-registered vessels have tied up in Shantou harbors to ride out Pabuk.

Eastern and southern China is regularly affected by tropical storms and typhoons in summer. Typhoons Bilis and Saomai claimed more than 1,000 lives in China last year.

Rainstorms hit the Philippine capital region as the country was affected by tropical storm Pabuk that passed by the northern region on Wednesday, the third day in a row since flash floods started causing trouble for citizens on the street, although there was no casualty reported.

 

 

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(Xinhua News Agency August 8, 2007)