Chinese state media say authorities have evacuated 100,000 people to safety on the southern island of Hainan ahead of an approaching typhoon.
Typhoon Lekima is expected to skirt the southern coast of Hainan early Wednesday, bringing heavy rain and winds of up to 119 kilometers per hour.
The official Xinhua news agency says authorities on Hainan ordered more than 20,000 fishing boats to return to port. They also opened the sluice gates of 17 reservoirs to divert possible floodwaters.
Xinhua says the storm has dealt a heavy blow to Hainan's tourism industry, prompting many Chinese tourists to cancel their bookings. Hainan's hotels and resorts are usually packed during China's week-long National Day holiday, which began Monday.
After leaving Hainan, Lekima is forecast to move west-northwest across the Gulf of Tonkin, before making landfall in northern Vietnam later this week.
The storm killed at least eight people in the northern Philippines on Sunday.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP.
