Packing winds of 126 kms per hour, Typhoon Saomai, the eighth to hit China this year, is likely to slam into the Chinese mainland Thursday afternoon or evening, meteorologists in east China's Fujian Province said Tuesday.

Saomai, which is the Vietnamese name for the planet Venus, is expected to make landfall near the north coast of Fujian Province and the southern coast of Zhejiang Province Thursday, a spokesman with the Fujian provincial meteorological station said.

As of 2:00 p.m. Tuesday, Saomai was located 1,430 km at sea southeast of Zhejiang, with winds recorded at 126 kms per hour at its eye, according to the Zhejiang provincial meteorological station. It is moving northwest at a speed of 25 km to 30 km per hour, a spokesman with the station said.

Some 1,000 kilometers away, Tropical storm Bopha is following on the heels of Saomai and is also approaching Fujian, according to the spokesman with local meteorological station. It would be the ninth major storm to hit China this year.

At 1:00 p.m. Tuesday, Bopha, which is the Cambodian word for flower, was located at sea, 320 km east of Taidung County in Taiwan. Its strongest winds were blowing at 82 km per hour. It is moving westward at a speed of 20 km per hour.

The provincial meteorological station on Tuesday afternoon warned local citizens that the two storms, which are only 1,000 kms apart, could enhance each other's strength to create an even stronger climatic event.

(Xinhua News Agency August 9, 2006)