A severe tropical storm heads for southern China after toppling trees on Hainan island

BEIJING (AP) - Authorities evacuated thousands of people, closed schools and canceled flights Friday as a severe tropical storm dumped heavy rain on parts of China’s Hainan island and headed for the country’s southern coast.

Photos posted by a Chinese news outlet showed toppled trees and a strewn corrugated metal fence at a construction site in the city of Sanya, a popular beach resort on Hainan. All schools, construction sites and tourist attractions in Sanya were closed and flights were suspended at the city’s airport, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

A dozen crew members were rescued Thursday night from a cargo ship that called for help, Xinhua said. The crew were transferred to a rescue vessel in rough seas with 3-meter (10-foot) waves.

Tropical Storm Wutip had maximum sustained winds of 108 kilometers (67 miles) per hour as it headed northwest off Hainan’s west coast. It was forecast to turn northeast and make landfall around noon Saturday on the Chinese mainland near the border between Guangdong province and the Guangxi region.

Guangdong activated rescue boats and helicopters and more than 49,000 fishing boats returned to port, Xinhua said. The provincial meteorological agency forecast heavy rain and said tornadoes were possible.

Wutip means "butterfly" in Cantonese, which is spoken in Macao. Countries and the Chinese regions of Hong Kong and Macao contribute the names for storms during the typhoon season.