Tens of thousands evacuated in China as Storm Narra moves inland
Low-lying areas in Guangxi are flooded, while Typhoon Saudel has caused power cuts and flight cancellations in Japan as it heads towards China.
- Authorities in China's Guangxi and Hainan regions have evacuated tens of thousands of residents and shut down businesses.
- Storm Narra made landfall on the southern island province of Hainan as a tropical storm on Tuesday evening before moving inland.
- The storm has already caused flooding in low-lying parts of Guangxi, with river levels rising above warning thresholds.
- Heavy rain is expected to continue across southern China over the coming days due to the storm system.
Regional authorities in Guangxi and Hainan have shut businesses, halted tourist operations and evacuated tens of thousands of residents.
More heavy rain is expected across southern China over the coming days.
Flooding is already affecting low-lying parts of Guangxi, where river levels have breached warning thresholds following recent downpours.
Narra spent several days over the waters of the Beibu Gulf, or Gulf of Tonkin, soaking Guangxi, Hainan and Guangdong.
The storm then came ashore in Hainan, China’s southern island province, at tropical-storm strength on Tuesday evening before continuing inland.
Three other systems were active at the same time: Typhoon Saudel, plus Gaenari and Atsani, both tropical cyclones.
Together with Narra, they made up a rare four-storm grouping over the South China Sea and Northwest Pacific, according to the China Meteorological Administration.
Forecasts place Typhoon Saudel’s landfall on the Zhejiang–Fujian section of China’s eastern coast between Thursday and Friday.
Model projections suggest rainfall from its outer bands may spread back towards Guangxi.
Some areas in Taiwan’s north and south are likely to see moderate rain through Friday as Saudel passes north of the island.
Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration expects the typhoon to lose strength gradually and the radius of the storm to narrow.
In Japan, power outages affected nearly 35,000 homes in the Amami Islands after the Kagoshima Prefecture chain fell within the radius of Saudel’s storm-force winds, according to Kyushu Electric Power.
Earlier on Wednesday, Saudel crossed Okinawa Prefecture and continued west, leading weather agencies to issue alerts for winds capable of causing damage and high seas.
Public broadcaster NHK said All Nippon Airways stopped every service arriving at or departing from Naha Airport, Okinawa Prefecture’s principal gateway, on Wednesday.
The day’s disruption included 92 cancelled flights serving airports across the prefecture.
Source: Reuters
