Fishing boats taking shelter at the Nanfangao fishing harbour in Suao, Yilan county in east Taiwan, as Typhoon Nesat approaches. The storm is likely to make landfall in Hualien or Taitung in eastern Taiwan later today, bringing with it strong winds and heavy rain across the island that are likely to continue until Monday.

The first storm to hit Taiwan this year, Nesat was reported to be approaching at a speed of 16kmh and packing winds of up to 90kmh. China's National Meteorological Centre also issued a yellow alert for Nesat yesterday morning, saying that most parts of the country's south-east would see rain from today till Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The rain is expected to bring some relief to the central and eastern regions of China, which have been in the grip of a heatwave since June 26, said the national observatory. The eastern metropolis of Shanghai, for example, recorded a temperature of 40.9 deg C on July 21, the highest on record in the city in 145 years.