China's coastal province activates emergency response for Typhoon Saola

This aerial photo shows fishing boats at a dock in Xiamen, east China's Fujian Province, July 27, 2023. (Photo by Zeng Demeng/Xinhua)

FUZHOU, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- East China's Fujian Province activated a Level III emergency response for Saola, the ninth typhoon this year, at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

The typhoon will likely bring gales and heavy rain to the province as it approaches the coastal areas from southern Fujian to eastern Guangdong, a southern Chinese province.

At 8 a.m. Tuesday, Saola was observed over the ocean, about 460 km southeast of Eluanbi in China's Taiwan.

It is expected to move northwestward at about 10 km per hour and is likely to make landfall in coastal areas of eastern Guangdong Friday evening and Saturday morning or to move west by south near the waters in eastern Guangdong, said the latest meteorological monitoring data.

Fujian's provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters have asked fishing boats in the affected waters to return to ports for shelter, with all people aboard to go ashore before Wednesday noon. Meanwhile, all the Fujian's coastal aquaculture workers must be evacuated ashore.