BEIJING: A typhoon is forecast to bring heavy rains to Taiwan and coastal China over the weekend, days after the worst flooding on record in a central province caused at least 33 deaths.
Forecasters say Typhoon In-fa is moving toward China and expected to make landfall in the coastal province of Zhejiang either Sunday afternoon or early Monday morning.
Zhejiang's bureau of emergency management said on its microblog Friday that it was raising its risk warning to the second-highest level and calling on all localities to take preventative measures.
Those usually include recalling fishing boats to port and relocating people living in vulnerable coastal communities.
Fujian province to the south has issued similar orders.
On its current track, the eye of the typhoon is expected to pass north of Taiwan, while still bringing considerable rain to the island.
The forecast follows flooding earlier this week in the central province of Henan as rivers and reservoirs overtop their banks.
The 33 deaths reported included 12 people who were trapped by rising waters in the subway system in the hard-hit provincial capital of Zhengzhou.
At noon, In-fa was about 370 kilometers (230 miles) east of the Taiwanese capital of Taipei, moving north-northwest at about 12 kilometers (7 miles) per hour, according to the Hong Kong Observatory.