China's first tropical storm of the year hit south China's Hainan Province last night, triggering torrential rain and injuring several people.

Typhoon Koni landed in the island province's city of Wanning at 6:40 pm yesterday.

A strong gale of force 9 -- traveling at 20 meters per second -- swept the city in eastern Hainan yesterday with gusts of force 11 winds traveling at 28 meters per second that damaged or uprooted many trees, local meteorologists told China Daily.

Typhoon Koni is moving in a northwesterly direction and causing torrential rain and severe storms in other parts of the province.

One man in the provincial capital Haikou was seriously injured by a falling pylon uprooted by the storm. The man was still in a critical condition last night. More people were injured by damaged trees.

More than a dozen flights were suspended at Meilan International Airport in Haikou due to the bad weather. Flights to Haikou had to land in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhanjiang in south China's Guangdong Province.

All maritime transportation in the province was also suspended.

The tropical storm is also expected to affect central parts of Guangdong today, causing torrential rain, according to the China Central Meteorological Station.

Weather forecasters also predicted more rainfall in the flood-hit Huaihe River valley and the upper reaches of the Yangtze.

About 1 million people in east China's Anhui and Jiangsu provinces have been mobilized to guard against possible flooding.

Hubei Province in central China is expected to see torrential rain in the coming days. The local civil affairs bureau has set aside 16 million yuan (US$1.9 million) and purchased 1,100 tents to help relieve flood victims.

Other parts of southern China are expected to experience sizzling weather in the next two days, with the maximum temperature forecast to hit 40 C in central China's Hunan Province and east China's Fujian Province, meteorologists said.

Northern China, especially Beijing, has had plenty of thunder and rain, bringing cool air.

More rainfall is expected in Beijing in the next week or two, local meteorologists said yesterday.

The period between mid-July and the end of August has traditionally seen the most rainfall of the year in Beijing, most of which comes in the form of thundershowers. Observations indicate that the next month or two will see a lot of rain, meteorologists said.

Last Saturday witnessed the city's first thundershower since mid-July. Trees were uprooted, some flights were delayed and some buildings were damaged.

There was also a minor thunderstorm in the city on Sunday. People may find their travel plans affected.

(China Daily July 22, 2003)