Hagupit, the 14th typhoon to affect China this year, is poised for landfall in the southern Guangdong Province early on Wednesday, meteorological stations in Fujian and Guangdong provinces warned on Monday.

The eye of the storm was located 480 km southeast of Hengchun City in Taiwan at 5 a.m. Monday, packing up winds of hurricane force at 137 kilometers per hour in the center, said the observatory in Fujian.

It forecast the typhoon moving at 20 to 25 km per hour would begin to affect coastal cities of Xiamen, Zhangzhou and Quanzhou with strong winds and heavy rains from Tuesday. However, the typhoon's possible landing path would be in the neighboring province of Guangdong.

The meteorological station in Guangdong forecast that Hagupit would make a landfall on Wednesday morning, before which the province would be dominated by a heat wave with daily high temperatures of 35 to 37 degrees Celsius.

It said the typhoon would bring heavy rains to central and southern parts of the province.

The weather stations warned that Hagupit could move further inland in Guangdong, causing geological hazards and heavy agricultural losses.

Hagupit would be the second typhoon in a week to affect Taiwan, Fujian and Guangdong, after typhoon Sinlaku lashed the region last Tuesday.

(Xinhua News Agency September 22, 2008)