East China's Zhejiang province evacuated 510,000 people and arranged shelters for 35,000 boats as Typhoon Matsa churned toward the coast, according to sources with the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters Friday.

The provincial meteorological bureau forecast that from Friday night to Saturday noon, Typhoon Matsa was quite likely to land at the coast between Wenling and Yuhuan counties, bringing heavy winds and torrential rains.

Yao Yuewei, an official with the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters, said that the actual route of Matsa is a bit deviant from the original route.

According to an emergency notice issued by the provincial meteorological bureau, "Matsa", the No. 9 typhoon of this year, was centered in the oceans at about 330 kilometers southeast of Wenling or 25.9 degree north latitude, 123.3 degree east longitude with winds of 45 meters per second near the center, and it was moving northwest at about 15 kilometers per hour.

Affected by the looming typhoon, the coastal cities of Ningbo, Wenzhou and Taizhou have already suffered heavy rainfall, with maximum precipitation of 100 mm. Rivers of some plains started to discharge floods to ensure safety of residents at the rivers lower reaches.

The provincial government has arranged patrols at reservoirs and embankments.

Shanghai is under harsh threat from "Matsa", said Yao Zizhan, head of the municipal meteorological station, adding that Shanghai is possibly faced with its most severe challenge in years.

His station forecast that heavy rainfall will hit Shanghai from Friday to Sunday.

Matsa is the second typhoon to hit Zhejiang this summer. Typhoon Haitang landed at the southeastern coast of the Chinese mainland on July 19 and caused 7.22 billion yuan (about 870 million US dollars) in economic losses.

(Xinhua News Agency August 5, 2005)