The approaching 17th typhoon of the year Parma was forecast to bring gales and heavy rains to coastal areas of eastern Fujian Province in the coming two days, said Fujian Provincial Observatory Sunday.

The Provincial Observatory said at 10:00 AM Sunday that the typhoon was located at 18.9 degrees north latitude and 120.2 degrees east longitude at 8:00 AM, packing up strong winds with a speed of 126 kilometers per hour at its eye.

It is moving northwestwardly at a speed of 10 kilometers per hour.

More than 100 tourists were stranded on the Nanji island in Zhejiang Province, to the north of Fujian, as shipping services back to nearby coastal cities were suspended, frontier defense officers said.

The tourists, mostly from Shanghai and Hangzhou cities, have to wait in hotels until the wind weakened, officers said.

Parma downgraded from a strong typhoon at 11:00 PM Saturday when it arrived at seawaters off northern Luzon Island of the Philippines.

(Xinhua News Agency October 5, 2009)