Authorities in east China's Zhejiang Province evacuated 230,764 people and recalled 26,242 fishing boats on Monday as typhoon Fung Wong approached, according to the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.

Forty-nine flights were cancelled and two were delayed as of 4 p.m. at the Fuzhou International Airport in neighboring Fujian Province, and the airport pledged to provide accommodation and transport for the stranded passengers.

Typhoon Fung Wong lashed Taiwan on Monday morning, before heading toward the mainland, according to the observatory at Zhejiang.

Fung Wong, the eighth tropical storm to hit China's coast, is set to sweep across the Taiwan Strait on Monday and make landfall between Xiapu and Jinjiang counties, in neighboring Fujian at midnight.

The provinces issued weather warnings.

(Xinhua News Agency July 29, 2008)