By Wang Ying and Hu Meidong (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-09 07:05

Hundreds of thousands of people along the southeast coast of Fujian Province have been relocated as the area battens down for two tropical storms.

More than 266,000 people have been moved from their sea farms, while more than 50,000 boats have returned to shore as tropical storms Pabuk and Wutip approach, local government officials said yesterday.

Pabuk is named after a type of tropical fish in Laos. It passed through southern Taiwan yesterday morning.

It is moving northwest at a speed of 25 kph and was expected to move toward Shantou, South China's Guangdong Province last night, according to the Fujian Meteorological Observatory.

The eighth tropical storm of the year, Wutip, which means butterfly, developed in the Pacific Ocean to the east of the Philippines at 8 am yesterday.

Wutip is moving northwest and is forecast to hit Fujian tomorrow afternoon.

It is more powerful than Pabuk, Lin Xinbiao, deputy director of the Fujian Meteorology Observatory, said.

Pabuk lashed southern Taiwan, temporarily cutting power to more than 50,000 homes and causing minor flooding and damage, officials said.

Rain is forecast for large parts of Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces, prompting authorities to warn of floods and landslides.

China has been plagued by a summer of heavy rainfall in which 936 people have died in floods, landslides and house collapses, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said on its website.

(China Daily 08/09/2007 page3)