Tropical storm Pabuk has brought moderate precipitation to southeastern coastal provinces of China, offering temporary relief to the lingering drought.

Pabuk, landed in Hong Kong Friday afternoon, has brought downpours and rainstorms to Wenzhou and Taizhou of Zhejiang Province, which has suffered for more than 20 days of sweltering heat, the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters said Saturday.

In Fujian Province, the latest rainfall following Pabuk helped to relieve thirsty of 65,500 local people and irrigate 30,300 hectares of farmland. Rainwater has filled up nine small-sized reservoirs.

However, more than 140,000 people are still struggling to get drinking water with nearly 98,000 hectares of cropland affected by the scorching weather as of Friday, according to the provincial flood control office.

The thirsty Guangdong Province has also benefited from the tropical storm, which brought an average precipitation of 25 mm. Two localities in the western part of Guangdong registered maximum rainfall of 224 mm and 215 mm respectively on Friday.

Pabuk, the seventh tropical storm visiting China this year, made a landfall at about 4:00 PM Friday in Hong Kong, packing up wind of 20 meters per second.

It weakened into a tropical depression as of 8 PM in Guangdong and continued to reduce its force, according to China Meteorological Administration.

Rainstorms and downpours are expected to pelt Hong Kong, Macao, and many parts of Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Hainan Saturday accompanied by gusts of up to 20 meters per second.

Pabuk and the eighth tropical storm Wutip were not fully developed, as the power of the two was partly offset by each other, according to an expert with the National Meteorological Center of China (NMC).

As Pabuk and Wutip are fading away, three more tropical storms would form in a few days to come, and two of them might hit south and southeast coastal areas of China, the NMC said on Friday.

(Xinhua News Agency August 11, 2007)