Typhoon Talim, the 13th this year, is likely to hit Taiwan and other coastal areas of southeast Chinese provinces from Wednesday, according to the Fujian Provincial Observatory on Tuesday.

The observatory raised an urgent typhoon alarm at 2:00 a.m. on Tuesday. When Talim was about 1,020 km southeast of Taipei, or at 21.2 north latitude and 130.6 east longitude.

The typhoon is moving northwestward at the speed of 20 kilometers per hour and it will bring heavy rainstorms to the provinces of Fujian and Taiwan, as well as other regions along China's southeast coastal area, the observatory warned.

Some meteorologists say that Talim might cause as much damage as Typhoon Haitang did. Haitang ravaged east China's Fujian and Zhejiang provinces in July. 

According to statistics jointly released by the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters and the Ministry of Civil Affairs on Tuesday, at least 1,024 people have been killed so far and 293 are still missing in floods that inundated many regions across China this year.

The widespread floods have affected the lives of 150.78 million people, destroyed over 10 million hectares of farmland and about 900,000 houses in 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across the country, incurring 102.8 billion yuan (US$12.6 billion) in direct losses, the statistics show.

Heavy rains and floods pounded areas around the Pearl River Delta, Minjiang River, Liaohe River and the upper reaches of the Huaihe River. Typhoons Haitang and Matsa also left much damage in their wake, causing mountain torrents and landslides in many inland regions after lashing the southeastern coastal provinces.

(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily and China.org.cn August 31, 2005)