BEIJING - China's national observatory Thursday renewed a blue alert for Typhoon Maysak, which is expected to bring strong winds and rainstorms to eastern and northern China.

At 8 am Thursday, the ninth typhoon this year was observed some 280 km south of Changbai county, Northeast China's Jilin province, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) said in a statement.

The typhoon had weakened to a severe tropical storm with a maximum wind speed of 30 meters per second near its center, according to the NMC.

The NMC forecast that Maysak will move northwest at a speed of around 60 km per hour and weaken gradually.

From Thursday afternoon to Friday afternoon, gales are expected to hit parts of the Yellow Sea, the Bohai Sea and parts of Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, and Inner Mongolia.

The center on Thursday also renewed a blue alert for rainstorms, which are expected to sweep parts of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia. Some areas are expected to see up to 50 mm of hourly precipitation.

The NMC has advised people and vessels in disaster-prone areas to take shelter from winds and stay vigilant for possible flooding, landslides and mudslides.

China has a four-tier color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe weather, followed by orange, yellow and blue.