SHANGHAI, Aug 10 -- Typhoon Saomai, the eighth to hit China this year, made landfall in Cangnan County, east China's Zhejiang Province, at 5:25 p.m. Thursday, said the provincial meteorological observatory.

China has evacuated 1.3 million people from its south coast to avoid Saomai, which is expected to be the most violent typhoon in 40 years once it lands this evening on the country's southeast coastal area.

Saomai was offshore 270 kilometers southeast of Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province at 5am. It's heading westward at a speed of 30 kilometers per hour and is expected to hit land this afternoon or tonight, said the Central Meteorological Observatory.

The observatory issued an emergency alert an hour later as Saomai became extremely dangerous when it began to pack winds of 216 kilometers per hour at its eye, said the report.

Heavy rainstorms brought by Typhoon Saomai will hit the coastal and southern parts of Zhejiang Province, the provincial meteorological observatory forecasts.

More than 520,000 people have been evacuated from vulnerable coastal areas of Zhejiang, while 760,000 have been evacuated in Fujian, said a previous report.

Saomai, named for the Vietnamese word for the planet Venus, will be the eighth powerful storm to hit China during this year's unusually violent typhoon season.

The storm was headed toward areas that were pounded by Tropical Storm Bilis, which killed more than 600 people last month.

Another typhoon, Prapiroon, lashed China's southern coast last week, killing at least 80 people.

(Agencies)