Typhoon Chaba makes landfall in China's Guangdong
Chaba, the third typhoon of the year, made landfall in the coastal area of Maoming City in south China's Guangdong Province at around 3 p.m. Saturday.
Typhoon brought gales and rain to its southern shores, causing floods in some areas, state TV reported on Saturday, as forecasters warned of record rainfall and high disaster risk in provinces including Guangdong, the country's most populous.
Footage showed residents in Hainan being evacuated from rising flood waters. Hainan upgraded its emergency response to Level II, the second-highest, on Saturday. It suspended railway service across the island and canceled more than 400 flights to and from the cities of Haikou and Sanya.
Typhoon Chaba, the Thai name for the hibiscus flower, was moving northwest at 15 to 20 km (10 to 15 miles) per hour after the eye of the storm made landfall in Guangdong's Maoming city on Saturday afternoon, the National Meteorological Center said in a statement.
Chaba, though medium in intensity and expected to lose strength over time, is likely to bring extremely heavy rains and may break the record for cumulative rainfall as it pulls the monsoon rain belt in the region inland, said Gao Shuanzhu, the centre's chief forecaster.
According to the provincial meteorological department, Chaba will enter Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Saturday night.
Intense downpours and rainstorms are expected to lash the western part of the Pearl River Delta over the weekend, while the seas off Guangdong will experience strong gusts of up to about 160 km per hour, according to the meteorological forecast.
The provincial government has upgraded its emergency response level for typhoons to Level II, the second-highest, effective 8:30 a.m. Saturday.
Rainstorms, with maximum precipitation expected to reach 600 mm, have been forecast to hit most parts of Guangxi from Saturday to Thursday.
Typhoon Aere, the fourth typhoon of the year, is forecast to approach the East China Sea on Saturday night. Affected by Typhoon Aere, there are still uncertainties about Chaba's route and the intensity of rainfalls it will cause, said the ministry, alerting severe flood control situations.
Anti-typhoon measures should be taken on all fronts at sea, in the air, and on land, the authorities said, stressing work to ensure vessels return to ports and offshore workers come ashore while relocating people in areas prone to geological disasters.
They also urged strictly guarding against river floods, mountain torrents, and urban waterlogging, and implementing effective emergency rescue.
China has a four-tier flood-control emergency response system, with level I being the most severe.
In recent weeks, historic rainfall and flooding in southern China have destroyed property, paralysed traffic and disrupted the daily lives of millions in one of the country's most populous and economically key regions.
Extreme weather including unusually heavy flooding is expected to continue in China through August, forecasters predicted this week, with climate change partly blamed.