Tropical storm to hit south China
( 2002-09-25 16:14 ) (8 )

The 20th tropical storm of this year would hit the southeast of China's southernmost province of Hainan from around Wednesday noon, according to a forecast by the China Central Meteorological Station on Wednesday.

The tropical storm center was at 17.5 degrees north latitude and 109.8 degrees east longitude at 5"The station said that as the storm center moved northernward at 10 km per hour, it was likely to become stronger and would hit Ledong and Wenchang counties in Hainan from noon till night.

The tropical storm would affect the central and north parts of the South China Sea as well as the Beibu Bay and Hainan bringing strong gale-force winds.

Most southern coastal regions including the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Guangdong province would have heavy to torrential rains Wednesday night.