BEIJING, Aug. 30 -- The Ministry of Water Resources on Wednesday activated a level-IV emergency response to flooding in six provincial-level regions in southern China.

The response was issued for Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan, said the ministry. It also sent two working groups to Fujian and Guangdong to assist flood prevention.

Typhoon Saola, the ninth Typhoon this year, is expected to bring heavy downpours to vast southern areas from Thursday to Saturday, said the ministry. Water levels of some rivers in the Pearl River basin, the Yangtze River basin and Taihu Lake basin will rise with risks of flooding.

The National Meteorological Center said the typhoon is likely to make landfall somewhere on the coast within an area stretching from eastern Guangdong to southern Fujian during the daytime on Friday, or it may move southwestward from the east coast of Guangdong.