Around 12 UTC on 15th August, VONGFONG formed as a tropical depression over the South China Sea about 870 km south of Macao (near 14.3°N, 113.6°E). It hovered initially and then tracked northeast to north-northeastwards. It started moving northwest to west-norhwestwards around 00 UTC on 17th and intensified into a tropical storm near 16.4°N, 113.4°E around 16 UTC on the same day, with central pressure of 986 hPa and central maximum wind of 65 km/h. It suddenly veered north to northwestwards around 08 UTC on 18th and accelerated gradually to 25 km/h, heading the coast of Guangdong west of Macao. It became a severe tropical storm offshore eastern Hainan (near 19.8°N, 111.2°E) around 06 UTC on 19th, with central pressure of 978 hPa and central maximum wind of 92 km/h. It started drifting to the north-northwest at the same speed of 25 km/h two hours later after skirting the northeast of Hainan around 08 UTC. Around 14 UTC on 19th, VONGFONG made landfall near Zhangjiang and was closest to Macao simultaneously at about 300 km (near 21.4°N, 110.7°E) to the west- southwest. Continued moving northwestwards rapidly, it weakened into a tropical storm two hours later around 16 UTC and further downgraded into a tropical depression again two hours later around 18 UTC in Guangxi, gradually dissipating over land. Record of tropical cyclone signal hoisting:   DATE TIME HOISTED SIGNAL 18 / AUG 00:00 The standby signal No. 1 19 / AUG 14:00 The strong wind signal No. 3 20 / AUG 10:00 All signals were lowered