Vehicles make their way in the rain in Haikou, capital of southernmost China's Hainan Province, Aug. 11, 2007. The province is affected by tropical storm Pabuk and WUTIP with heavy rainfalls which offered temporary relief to the lingering drought. (Xinhua Photo/Zhao Yingquan) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Tropical storm Pabuk has brought moderate precipitation to southeastern coastal provinces of China, offering temporary relief to the lingering drought.

    Pabuk, which landed in Hong Kong Friday afternoon, has brought downpours and rainstorms to Wenzhou and Taizhou of Zhejiang Province that have suffered 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 drinking water shortage of 65,500 local people and eased rought involving 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 as of Friday, according to the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.

    Rivers in Fujian remained in stable conditions and no serious floods have been reported, the office said.

    Weather forecast said rainstorms and downpours are expected to hit some coastal regions between Saturday to Sunday, but the weather would turn into cloudy as of Monday.

    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 rainfall of 224 mm and 215 mm respectively on Friday.

    However, torrential currents inundated a section of China's first cross-strait railway linking Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, to Haikou, capital of China's southernmost Hainan Province, forcing the suspension of a number of trains.

    More than 700 workers are busy repairing the rails.

    Over 5 hours of heavy rains have damaged a few bridges and paralyzed road traffic in the Leizhou Peninsula of Guangdong.

Two residents make their way in the rain in Haikou, capital of southernmost China's Hainan Province, Aug. 11, 2007. (Xinhua Photo//Zhao Yingquan) Photo Gallery>>>

    More than 500 villagers in the peninsula were pulled out of rushing floods Saturday afternoon thanks to 14 hours of rescue efforts by soldiers. The survivors have been relocated to safe places.

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

    It weakened into a tropical depression as of 8 p.m. in Guangdong and its force continues to subside, according to China Meteorological Administration.

    Rainstorms and downpours are expected to pelt Hong Kong, Macao, and many parts of Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Hainan on 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.