BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese authorities have stepped up flood control and disaster relief efforts as Typhoon Bavi continued to affect large parts of the country on Sunday.

Photo: AFP

Typhoon Bavi, the ninth typhoon of the year, made successive landfalls along the coast of east China's Zhejiang Province late Saturday before moving inland. It is expected to move northwest while gradually weakening.

From Sunday to Tuesday, heavy to torrential rain is expected to lash a swath of China, including Anhui, Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces, as well as parts of Liaoning and Jilin provinces.

The Ministry of Water Resources on Sunday upgraded its flood alert to yellow, the third-highest level in China's four-tier weather warning system, saying that heavy rainfall could trigger flooding in some rivers, mountain torrents and urban waterlogging.

Central authorities have dispatched 70,000 items of disaster relief supplies to Zhejiang, Tianjin and Anhui to support the relocation and resettlement of affected residents, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management (MEM).

The items, including folding beds, blankets, summer quilts and family emergency kits, were jointly allocated by the office of the national commission for disaster prevention, reduction and relief, the MEM, and the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration.