Tourists evacuated from East China island as typhoon approaches

HANGZHOU: Some 900 foreign and Chinese tourists were persuaded by the Chinese soldiers to evacuate from Nanji, a resort island off east China's Zhejiang Province on Wednesday as the Typhoon Morakot approaches, Xinhua news agency reported Thursday.

The provincial meteorological station monitored the center of the typhoon at 950 km east of Zhejiang's coast Thursday morning, with wind speeds up to 144 km per hour.

The observatory expected Morakot to strengthen into a strong typhoon, as it moved towards Zhejiang and Fujian provinces at a speed of 20 to 25 km per hour Thursday. It is forecast to make landfall late Friday or Saturday.

The ferry services to the mainland will also be stopped on Thursday.

A tourist from Jinhua City, Zhejiang told Xinhua that: "We didn't expect the typhoon would be so strong, and had planned to stay on the island for another two days.

"We are grateful that the soldiers helped us book ferry tickets and leave the island safely before Morakot arrives".

The Shanghai-based East China Weather Forecast Center under the State Bureau of Oceanic Administration on Thursday warned coastal units to take high tide precautions, as Morakot would hit at a peak tide time, and the storm tide in Zhejiang and Fujian would surge 150 to 250cm on Saturday. -- BERNAMA