Typhoon Soulik moves inland after lashing E China

NANCHANG - Typhoon Soulik moved further inland to East China's Jiangxi province on Sunday after lashing?East China's Fujian province on Saturday, bringing downpours and strong gales to the region.

The seventh typhoon to hit Chinese mainland this year, Soulik entered Jiangxi around 4 am, bringing precipitation as high as 200 mm within five hours and winds of 64.8 km per hour, local meteorological authorities said.

Sixteen counties and cities in Jiangxi had over 100 mm of precipitation as of 9 am, sources with the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters said.

The Jiangxi meteorological center has issued warnings for rain, although it downgraded its emergency response from the fourth level to the third level. It forecast that the typhoon will weaken as it moves further northwest.

The National Meteorological Center (NMC) said on Sunday the typhoon has gradually weakened after moving inland, but heavy rain and strong winds will continue to pummel some parts of China.

The National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center on Saturday night downgraded the warning for sea waves caused by Typhoon Soulik in Fujian and Zhejiang from red to yellow.

The center said Soulik will move northwest at a speed of 25 to 30 km per hour.

Typhoon Soulik has left two dead, one missing and 104 others injured since it hit Taiwan early Saturday morning. Over 800,000 people on the mainland have been affected by the typhoon.

China uses a four-tier color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe weather, followed by orange, yellow and blue.