Typhoon Cimaron, the 20th typhoon to affect China this year, slowed but strengthened Wednesday in the South China Sea, meteorologists said.

 

From Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday afternoon, Cimaron moved just 60 kilometers, according to Hainan provincial meteorological observatory.

 

The storm lingered about five hours from 8 a.m. Wednesday and began to swing toward northeast at a speed of less than five km per hour, but packing winds of up to 180 km per hour.

 

By 5 p.m. Wednesday, the leviathan was centered in the northern South China Sea, 210 km south-southwest of the Dongsha Islands, said the China Central Meteorological Observatory. Its forecast was the typhoon would continue to strengthen, swinging slowly towards land.

 

It would affect the southern coastal areas of Taiwan, eastern coastal areas of Hainan, and coastal areas of Guangdong and Fujian on Wednesday night and Thursday.

 

Hainan ordered its fishing fleet, over 20,000 strong, to return to port by Wedneday, local government sources said.

 

Cimaron, the Philippine word for "wild ox", formed Friday east of the Philippines and has since intensified into a severe typhoon.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 2, 2006)