Typhoon Kestana shaved China's southernmost island province of Hainan on Tuesday, heading westward to Vietnam, the meteorological stations in south China monitored.

A tree is blown down and uprooted by the typhoon Kestana, on the street of Qionghai, south China's Hainan Province, Sept. 29, 2009. The typhoon Kestana has affected Qionghai City with continuous gale and forced a local hydropower station to stop work. [Xinhua]

The typhoon was only 260 km away from Sanya City, Hainan, and had strong winds up to 126 km per hour at its eye Tuesday morning, said the station in south China's Guangdong Province.

It said that Kestana was moving westward at a speed of 15 km per hour, and is poised for a landfall in Vietnam on Tuesday evening.

Due to the typhoon's effect, Guangdong and Hainan had received heavy downpour and strong gale since Monday.

The meteorological stations said that the rainy weather will continue to Wednesday, but the weather is expected to clear on Thursday.

"The typhoon's effect will reduce on Wednesday. The coming 'Golden Week' National Day holiday can expect fair weather, mainly cloudy, which will be suitable for outdoor fun," said Cai Qinbo, director of the Hainan meteorological station.

Sanya City, the most famous beach resort on the island, closed all scenic spots and forbade tourists from going sea swimming on Monday.

The city government ordered all outdoor activities canceled and schools closed on Monday and Tuesday.

Tourists at the Sanya beach saw tides as high as two meters.

The city's airport canceled 40 flights on Monday, leaving 1,220 passengers stranded.

On Tuesday morning, 10 flights took off from the airport, as the air traffic was recovering.

The agricultural department in Hainan said Kestana caused heavy losses, as many cash crops were damaged by strong gales.