In the Philippines, power was gradually restored to millions of homes in and around Manila after Typhoon Conson hit the capital harder than expected on Tuesday night, killing 37 people and leaving dozens missing.

Tropical Storm Risk downgraded the typhoon to a tropical storm on Thursday, but the Philippines' weather bureau said it was expected to regain strength as it moved over the South China Sea and headed toward southern China and northern Vietnam.

Conson was due to hit land late Friday, the Tropical Storm Risk website (http://www.tropicalstormrisk.com) said.

China's Xinhua news agency said the storm would make landfall in Hainan Island's southern resort city of Sanya before moving into Guangdong and Guangxi, bringing heavy rain.

"Winds will gradually strengthen and it may increase in intensity to a typhoon," the China Meteorological Administration said on its website.

More than 24,000 fishing boats have taken shelter in harbors around Hainan and ferry services between the island and the mainland will be stopped in the early evening, Xinhua said.

Typhoons and tropical storms regularly hit the Philippines, China, Taiwan and Japan in the second half of the year, gathering strength from the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean or South China Sea before normally weakening over land.

Japan's Kyodo news agency said local governments had recommended that some 300,000 people be evacuated from their homes, as the Meteorological Agency forecast heavy rains from a separate weather system for the west and east of the country.

TV images showed some houses tilted after being hit by mudslides, swollen rivers and abandoned cars almost submerged in flooded streets. Footage also showed a rescue crew saving a man caught in a fallen tree on a fast-flowing river.