Typhoon to land in Zhejiang, bringing heavy rain to E China

Typhoon In-Fa, forecast to land in Zhejiang province between Sunday afternoon and early Monday morning, will continue bringing heavy rain to large-scale areas in East China.

The National Meteorological Center said that the typhoon is expected to land in a place between Zhejiang's Zhoushan and Yuhuan in form of a typhoon or severe typhoon, the third- and second-strongest ones among the six levels.

Gao Shuanzhu, chief forecaster of the center, said the cyclone is highly likely to land in China's coastal areas according to their forecast.

"It will linger over land areas in eastern provinces for about two days after it makes landfall. Extreme weather may happen due to prolonged rainfall," he said.

From Saturday to Tuesday, the typhoon will dump rain on Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangsu and Fujian provinces as well as Shanghai, the center said.

Starting from Thursday, the region has been affected with increasing amounts of rain and wind, the center said, adding it has upgraded the typhoon alert from blue to orange.

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

Gao cautioned against outdoor activities and marine operations, and warned of potential urban flooding.

Zhejiang province has been "prepared for the worst situation" to be caused by the typhoon, the provincial flood control headquarters said.

The headquarters has gathered relief materials and staff members to stand by for rescue.

Thousands of tourists on islands in Zhejiang have been evacuated and the water resources department has spared reservoir capacity for possible floods, local media reported.