Powerful typhoon Muifa was likely to land in east China's Zhejiang Province on Saturday night or in the daytime of Sunday, local meteorological authorities said Friday.

Muifa, the ninth typhoon to hit China this year, was located about 790 km southeast of Zhejiang's Zhoushan City at 5 a.m. Friday, according to the latest report from the Zhejiang Provincial Meteorological Station.

Packing winds of up to 162 km per hour near its center, Muifa was heading northwest at a speed of 10 km to 15 km per hour, the report said.

It would bring strong winds and torrential rains to parts of Zhejiang it said.

Muifa is expected to be one of the most powerful storms to hit China in recent years.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs has issued a circular Thursday ordering civil affairs agencies in the city of Shanghai and the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi and Shandong to monitor the situation closely and carry out disaster relief operations in a timely manner.

Government-run storage bases for relief materials in the cities of Hefei, Fuzhou, Wuhan and Changsha were also advised to prepare for the possible dispersal of their stored materials.

The ministry, along with the National Commission for Disaster Reduction, sent a work team to Zhejiang Thursday to direct preparatory work for the typhoon.

Flood control authorities in Fujian have called more than 5,000 fishing vessels back to the city's harbor.@ Marine fishery authorities in Zhejiang have asked 2,000 fishing boats to return to harbor before 12:00 a.m. Saturday, and the Zhejiang Provincial Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters has ordered local authorities in seaside areas likely to be affected by the typhoon to prepare for a possible evacuation of their residents.

Shanghai railway authorities have established an inspection team to examine high-speed railway facilities, stating that some train services may run behind schedule or even be halted if the storm is too severe.

China has issued an orange alert for high waves in the East China Sea as the typhoon approaches. Orange is the second-highest level in the country's four-level high wave alert system.

The eastern region of the East China Sea is likely to see waves of 6 to 9 meters high, according to a Thursday statement from China's National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center.

Waters off Zhejiang and Fujian will experience waves of 1.5 to 2.5 meters, the statement said.