Typhoon Prapiroon on Thursday evening slammed into south China's Guangdong Province, packing heavy rain and strong wind, the Guangdong Provincial Meteorological Station said.

The typhoon made landfall at the coastal area between Yangxi County and Dianbai County in western Guangdong at 7:20 p.m. Thursday. With a speed of 33 meters per second, the wind power reached 12 degrees on the Beaufort Scale near its eye.

The typhoon will move toward inland area of Guangdong within 12 hours at a speed of 15 to 20 kilometers per hour.

It will enter Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, just west of Guangdong, on Friday, the meteorological station forecasted.

The strong wind and heavy rain will continue to ravage the west region of Guangdong until Saturday.

Local flood-control authority called for close watch on the typhoon and asked related departments to carry out emergency measures to prevent possible disasters triggered by Prapiroon, including landslide, mud-flow, house collapse and flooding.

Before Prapiroon's landing, 406,343 people have been moved to safety in the provinces of Hainan and Guangdong and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Meanwhile, 62,023 vessels from Guangdong, Hainan and Guangxi had returned to harbor.

But by press time, 56 out of the 68 sailors on board a barge have been rescued, but the other 12 are still on board the barge at sea near Yangjiang City of Guangdong due to failure of rescue effort as Prapiroon has brought force 9-12 gales to the sea areas.

(Xinhua News Agency August 4, 2006)