Southeast China provinces are girding for Typhoon Sepat with cancellation of flights, evacuations of tens of thousands of people. Typhoon Sepat made landfall in Hualien, the central-eastern part of Taiwan around 5:40AM Saturday, with sustained winds of 180 kilometers per hour, according to the China Central Meteorological Center.

Power cut for thousands of households and downpours were reported in many parts of the island.

The eye of Sepat is moving northwest at a speed of 15 to 20 kilometers per hour. It will continue to lose strength and will land in the coast of eastern Fujian Province Saturday night or Sunday morning.

Flights from Xiamen, Jinjiang and Fuzhou, capital of Fujian, have been cancelled since Saturday morning.

In Guangdong Province, about 11,902 boats have returned to harbor or sought shelter in nearby places, according to the Guangdong flood control and drought relief headquarters.

Around 70,000 fishing farm workers on the sea, fishermen and residents in low-lying areas have been evacuated to safety areas in Guangdong, the headquarters said.

In Fujian, all vessels were ordered to return to harbor by midnight on Friday. Nearly 10,000 ships and 36,000 maritime workers fishermen had returned.

Passenger liners shuttling from Fujian to Taiwan have been suspended since Friday afternoon and it is undecided when services will resume.

In Zhejiang, more than 3,500 fishing boats and trawlers carrying 9,000 fishermen have sought shelter. Twenty-five rescue groups with nearly 300 people and 135 ships are on stand-by.

(Xinhua News Agency August 18, 2007)