Chinese authorities have evacuated tens of thousands of people, cancelled scores of trains and flights and shuttered seaside resorts as a super-typhoon with wind gusts up to 200km/h heads toward the southeastern coast.
China's national weather service said super Typhoon Chan-hom was expected to make landfall by early today at Fujian or Zhejiang province, and has issued its highest-level alert.
It lashed Japan's Okinawa island chain yesterday, leaving at least 23 people injured.
Zhejiang's Civil Affairs Bureau said nearly 60,000 people were evacuated from coastal areas.
The country's railway service said more than 100 trains between the region's cities are cancelled through to tomorrow.
In the seaside city of Zhoushan, all flights in and out of its airport have been cancelled. The city has halted bus services and speedboat ferry services.
Several tourist spots also were closed. In the nearby port city of Ningbo, 23 flights were cancelled, the airport said. Several area cities also have announced suspension of inter-city bus services.
The storm earlier dumped rain on northern Philippines and was expected to pass by Taiwan, where several flights were suspended.
The stock market and public offices were closed yesterday in Taipei, the island's capital, authorities announced.
Southern China was struck by another typhoon earlier this week. Typhoon Linfa displaced 56,000 people in southern Guangdong province.