Beijing - Chinese authorities say hundreds of thousands of people in the southeast of the country have been evacuated and fishing vessels called back to shore because of an approaching typhoon.
The National Meteorological Centre says Typhoon Fitow is expected to make landfall early on Monday between Zhejiang and Fujian provinces.
Provincial authorities said that by noon Sunday more than 65 000 boats had returned to port or moved to safer areas. Zhejiang's provincial government said 289,000 people had been evacuated from fishing boats and coastal areas. Fujian's government said 128 000 boat workers and dwellers had been evacuated.
The meteorological Centre says the typhoon will bring heavy or torrential rain to five provinces, Shanghai and Taiwan over the next three days.
Sapa-AP