GUANGZHOU, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Typhoon Koppu staged a landing Tuesday morning on the coast of southern China's Guangdong Province, bringing about gales and rainstorm with a top precipitation at 148.5 mm in the province.

    The typhoon, the 15th this year, landed at around 7:00 a.m. at Beidou town of Taishan city, packing up winds of 126 km/hour at its eye, according to the provincial meteorological bureau.

    The bureau forecast the Koppu would continue to move northwestward, pass through Yangjiang and Maoming of Guangdong on Tuesday daytime, and enter Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in the evening. The rainstorm would weaken Wednesday throughout Guangdong, the bureau added.

    To counteract the typhoon effect, primary and middle schools in Shenzhen of Guangdong will suspend classes Tuesday.

    Earlier report said more than 26,000 boats had been told to return to harbor and 110 offshore oilfield workers were evacuated Monday in southernmost China's Hainan Province in anticipation of Koppu's arrival.

    Shipping services across the southern Qiongzhou Strait has been suspended since Monday afternoon because of the threat of the tropical storm, according to the provincial maritime affairs bureau of Hainan.

    In Yangjiang city of Guangdong, 1,140 fishing boats have returned to harbor.

    In Fujian, the provincial observatory has warned of gales and heavy rainfall from Monday to Tuesday in the coastal cities of Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Quanzhou and Longyan.

    China braces for tropical storm Koppu

    FUZHOU, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- More than 26,000 boats have been told to return to harbor as offshore oilfield workers were evacuated Monday as China's southern and southeastern provinces braced for tropical storm Koppu, the 15th to hit the country's coastal regions this year.

    

Fishermen unload their boats at the Qinglan Port in Wenchang, south China's Hainan Province, on Sept. 14, 2009.(Xinhua/Guo Cheng)     Photo Gallery>>>

    Koppu, which is expected to strengthen into a typhoon in the next six hours, will land in the southeastern Fujian and Guangdong provinces between Monday evening and Tuesday morning. Full story