Haikui to bring rainstorms to East China

A woman walks with her umbrella against strong winds as Typhoon Haikui approaches China's east coast in Hefei, Anhui Province August 8, 2012. Typhoon Haikui struck China on Wednesday, packing winds of up to 110 km per hour (68 mph), prompting officials to evacuate nearly 2 million people and grounding hundreds of flights to and from Shanghai and other cities. [Photo/Agencies]

Dark clouds cover the sky in downtown Shanghai, August 6, 2012. Heavy rains will hit many areas in south and east China from Sunday to Tuesday, as Typhoon Haikui is moving northwestward from Okinawa, Japan, to affect China's coastal region.[Photo/Agencies]

BEIJING - Haikui, the 11th typhoon of the year, is expected to bring rainstorms to China's eastern regions over the next 24 hours, the country's meteorological authority forecast Wednesday.

Haikui, which weakened into a tropical storm after making landfall in Zhejiang province early Wednesday, was moving northwest at a speed of 15 km per hour and would enter the southeast of neighboring Anhui province Wednesday night, the National Meteorological Center said.

The storm would linger in the south of Anhui for the next two days, where it would gradually weaken, the center said.

Affected by the storm, heavy rain and rainstorms would hit the central and northern parts of Zhejiang and Shanghai, central and southern parts of Jiangsu and Anhui, and northeastern parts of Jiangxi in the next 24 hours, with precipitation reaching up to 350 mm in some areas, the center said.

Preliminary statistics from the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters showed that the storm had affected 2.02 million residents, 13,619 enterprises and 91,850 hectares of farmland in Zhejiang as of 8 am Wednesday.