China Meteorological Administration, the country's meteorological authority, launched a level-III or orange emergency alarm on Saturday morning in face of tropical storm Linfa.

Tropical storm Linfa, the third this year, was moving towards China's mainland, local meteorological authorities said on Friday.

Formed in the South China Sea Thursday afternoon, the storm was located at 19.0 degrees north latitude and 117.5 degrees east longitude at 7:00 PM on Friday. It was about 590 kilometers from Zhao'an County in the eastern Fujian Province and 500 km from Shantou, Guangdong.

The wind speed at the eye was 20 meters per second, according to the Guangdong Provincial Meteorological Observatory.

Fujian issued a warning as Linfa is expected to unleash gales and high waves along the coast and in the Taiwan Straits, and torrential rain in southern parts of the province and eastern Guangdong at the weekend.

The flood control headquarters in Fujian ordered local governments to closely monitor the movement of the storm, keep ships informed and tighten management of reservoirs.

The Guangdong meteorological authorities warned that storms coming from the South China Sea were changeable and Linfa might speed up and shift course.

(Xinhua News Agency June 20, 2009)