Typhoon Cimaron was downgraded to a tropical storm on Friday
afternoon and will continue to weaken as it moves southwest in the
South China Sea, meteorologists said Friday.
The storm was centered about 730 kilometers east of Sanya City,
south China's island province of Hainan, packing winds of up to
82.8 km per hour, said the provincial meteorological observatory of
Hainan.
The tropical storm was forecast to move southwest at a speed
of10 km per hour and weaken into a tropical depression within the
next 30 hours, it said.
Offshore areas around the island can expect gales of 30 to 50 km
per hour, according to the observatory.
Cimaron, the Philippine word for "wild ox", formed last Friday
east of the Philippines and had reached the status of severe
typhoon. It lingered in the South China Sea for about 50 hours.
(Xinhua News Agency November 4, 2006)