Chinese soldiers helped to evacuate 900 foreign and Chinese tourists from Nanji, a resort island off east China's Zhejiang Province, before ferry services to the mainland stopped Thursday as Typhoon Morakot approached.

The provincial meteorological station monitored the center of the typhoon at 950 km east of Zhejiang's coast on Thursday morning, with wind speeds up to 144 km per hour.

The observatory expected Morakot to strengthen into a strong typhoon, as it moved towards Zhejiang and Fujian provinces at a speed of 20 to 25 km per hour Thursday. It is forecast to make landfall late Friday or Saturday.

The observatory warned that Morakot would bring heavy rain to the coastal regions on Saturday.

A tourist from Jinhua City, Zhejiang, told Xinhua that soldiers visited each tourist spot on Nanji to persuade people to leave on Wednesday.

"We didn't expect the typhoon would be so strong, and had planned to stay on the island for another two days. We are grateful that the soldiers helped us book ferry tickets and leave the island safely before Morakot arrives," he said.

The Shanghai-based East China Weather Forecast Center under the State Bureau of Oceanic Administration on Thursday warned coastal units to take high tide precautions, as Morakot would hit at a peak tide time, and the storm tide in Zhejiang and Fujian would surge 150 to 250cm on Saturday.

(Xinhua News Agency August 6, 2009)