Beijing, Oct 22 : China's national observatory on Wednesday issued a yellow alert for typhoon Fengshen, the 24th typhoon of the year, as it is expected to bring strong winds and heavy rain to parts of the country's southern regions.

As of 9 a.m. on Wednesday, it was located over the waters of the South China Sea, about 170 km west-northwest of Yongxing Dao of Sansha City, Hainan Province, with maximum winds of 33 metres per second near its centre, according to the National Meteorological Centre (NMC).

Fengshen is expected to move southwestward at 10 km per hour. Its intensity will remain steady through Wednesday morning before gradually weakening.

Affected by the typhoon, gales are forecast to affect areas including parts of the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, the Bashi Channel, the waters east of Taiwan, coastal regions of southern Zhejiang, Fujian, Taiwan and Hainan Island, and parts of the South China Sea, as well as the Beibu Gulf between 2 p.m. Wednesday and 2 p.m. Thursday, the NMC said.

Meanwhile, it said that some areas of Hainan Island and Taiwan may experience heavy rainstorms during the same period.

China has a four-tier, colour-coded weather warning system for typhoons, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow and blue, Xinhua news agency reported.

The typhoon will make landfall over Vietnam's central coast as a tropical storm on Thursday before weakening rapidly, said the centre.

On Monday, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh issued an official dispatch to direct ministries, agencies and localities in central Vietnam to take urgent measures as Typhoon Fengshen approaches.

Fengshen, the 12th storm expected to hit Vietnam this year, is forecast to cause heavy rainfall in the central provinces from Wednesday to Sunday.

The typhoon is also expected to pose high risks of flooding, landslides and flash floods, according to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

Residents in Laos are also being urged to prepare for widespread heavy rainfall as tropical storm Fengshen approaches, bringing potential landslides and flash floods.

The storm is expected to cross Vietnam before entering Laos, bringing light to moderate thunderstorms across the country, along with heavy to very heavy rainfall and strong winds in certain regions from October 23 to 24, according to a report from the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology under the Lao Ministry of Agriculture and Environment on Monday.

/IANS