Sea and land warnings were issued Wednesday in southeastern China ahead of the arrival of tropical storm Bilis.

It is expected to hit Taiwan and Fujian Province in the coming two days, local meteorological departments said.

Other coastal provinces on the mainland, such as Zhejiang, Guangdong and Jiangxi, have issued notices, urging relevant departments to implement effective measures to prevent potential disasters and loss of life, reports said.

According to Fujian provincial observatory yesterday, the center of Bilis was located in the ocean to the southeast of Taiwan, or 20.8 north latitude and 126 east longitude.

It is moving at a speed of 15-20 kilometres per hour and is predicted to arrive in Fujian on Saturday.

The storm, expected to evolve into a typhoon within 48 hours, was approaching offshore areas east of Taiwan yesterday, packed with winds of 102 kilometers per hour.

The tropical storm will bring the Taiwan Straits heavy rainstorms and strong gales.

A consulting conference was held yesterday between observatories at central and provincial levels to discuss the storm's route and severity.

Fishery departments in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces have issued notices to call back all ships operating or traveling at sea.

At the same time, land and resources departments have urged local governments to take preventative measures to avoid possible landslides and rock and mud flows. Farmers are being advised to harvest crops before the arrival of the storm, reports said.

Meanwhile, disaster relief efforts are continuing in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region after eight people were killed in a two-day rainstorm that began on Saturday.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs has dispatched a work panel to direct support, ministry official Li Baojun told China Daily yesterday.

Downpours ravaged the northwestern, southern and southeastern parts of Guangxi from Saturday, which triggered severe floods and mountain torrents in some places, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The rainstorm hit 16 counties and cities, where about 1.44 million people live, in the autonomous region.

The disaster ravaged 61,100 hectares of farmland and closed 67 roads, bringing about direct economic losses of 248 million yuan (US$31 million), reports said.

(China Daily July 13, 2006)