Tropical storm Man-Yi has evolved into super typhoon Thursday afternoon and is expected to lash at the southeastern water of the East China Sea by Friday afternoon, according to the China Central Meteorological Station.

Meteorologists said that the typhoon, with its center registering a maximum wind of 55 meters per second, may continue to reinforce.

The eastern coast of Taiwan, central and northern coasts of Zhejiang, the estuary of the Yangtze River and the west water of the East China Sea are expected to experience a wind scale of 9 to 12.

The wind scale in the areas swept by the center of the Man-Yi may reach 13 to 17.

The Shanghai Meteorological Center has alerted the residents of Zhejiang of the approach of the typhoon which first formed into tropical storm on Monday from the east of the Philippines.

On August 10 last year, super typhoon Saomai, with its center registering a maximum wind of 60 meters per second, hit Zhejiang and neighboring Fujian provinces, killing at least 483 people.

(Xinhua News Agency July 13, 2007)