Updated: 2007-08-18 21:36

Three moveable radars had been respectively allocated to East China's Fujian and Jiangxi provinces and the central province of Hunan to monitor the movement of typhoon Sepat, said the China Central Meteorological Station (CMS) on Saturday.

Radars were used to help provide timely weather forecast as Sepat approaches.

Typhoon Sepat, the ninth tropical storm to hit China this year, pounded Hualien in mid-east Taiwan Province at around 5:40 am on Saturday, with sustained winds of 180 kilometers per hour, said the CMS.

Sepat keeps weakening and is expected to land on the coast between Lianjiang and Xiamen of Fujian Province between Saturday evening to Sunday morning.

Sepat will swirl through Fujian and move northwestward to Jiangxi Province, said the CMS.

Influenced by Sepat, torrential rains are forecast to hit Taiwan, Fujian, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Jiangxi and Hunan provinces in the coming three days.

Rainfalls brought by Sepat may relieve drought in Jiangxi, which has been ravaged by the worst drought in the past 50 years, said the CMS.

Experts from the CMS warned Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong provinces to be on guard against possible disasters, such as floods, landslides and mud-rock flows, caused by heavy rains.