Hangzhou, Sep 19 (IANS): Pulasan, the 14th typhoon of this year, made landfall in China's Zhejiang Province at about 6:50 P.M. on Thursday, according to provincial authorities concerned.

The typhoon, with the maximum wind force near its centre reaching 25 meters per second, struck Daishan County in the coastal city of Zhoushan, Xinhua news agency reported.

Typhoon Pulasan is expected to enter Hangzhou Bay and make a second landfall along the coastal region between Zhejiang's Pinghu and Shanghai's Pudong area, according to the provincial meteorological observatory. Its intensity is forecast to gradually weaken as it moves inland.

Earlier on Thursday, Pulasan grazed Japan, setting off landslide warnings on the island of Okinawa. After striking eastern China, the storm could boomerang back toward Japan after moving along the southern coast of South Korea, forecasters said. There was also a chance that the storm could dissipate in China.

Typhoon Bebinca, the storm that hit Shanghai on Monday, triggered the evacuation of 414,000 people, the cancellation of flights at its two international airports, the closure of major tourist attractions and the shutdown of several train and bus routes.

Bebinca damaged four houses, felled more than 10,000 trees and flooded 800 acres of farmland in Shanghai, according to China Central Television, the national broadcaster. It also left at least two people dead in Kunshan, west of Shanghai.