Typhoon Nabi, number 14 of this year which is moving northwestward, will affect some coastal cities in east China since Sept. 5, said an official with China Meteorological Administration (CMA) at the Monday press conference.

Wang Bangzhong, deputy director of CMA's weather forecast and disaster relief department, said affected by Nabi, the coastal areas in east and northeast China will see stormy weather from Sept. 5 to 7.

It will also bring heavy rainfalls to the Shandong Peninsula and the east edge of Northeast China, the official said.

The CMA reports said from June through August this year, four typhoons landed in China, among which Hangtang and Matsa were the most destructive.

According to the deputy chief, 46.12 million people suffered from the typhoons, which claimed 42 lives and left six others missing.

The typhoons damaged 2.58 million hectares of farmland and pulled down 920,000 houses, causing a direct economic loss amounting to 32.76 billion yuan (US$4.04 billion) in the afflicted regions.

Nevertheless, the typhoons and storms have relieved the droughts in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and Hainan and brought down the high temperatures in many areas, alleviating the power shortage.

Meteorologists say that apart from Nabi, four or five tropical storms and typhoons will generate on the Pacific Ocean this September, two to affect China.

Wang urged the related departments at all levels to take precautionary measures against the typhoons and try to minimize the loss.

(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2005)