Tropical storm Wutip makes landfall in southern China's Hainan

BEIJING (Reuters) -Tropical storm Wutip slammed into southern China on Friday, pounding coastal regions with gales and heavy rainfall, National Meteorological Centre said.

Packing wind speeds of 108 km per hour near its centre, Wutip made landfall in Dongfang city on the resort island province of Hainan around 11 pm (1500 GMT) after disrupting transport services, shutting schools and closing tourist attractions in the wider area.

Wutip, the Cantonese word for "butterfly", formed over the South China Sea this week and intensified into a tropical storm on June 11. It marked the fifth-latest start of the Pacific tropical cyclone season in recent times.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo, Yukun Zhang, Shi Bu and Ethan WangEditing by Gareth Jones)

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