HAIKOU/GUANGZHOU: Hainan and Guangdong provinces in South China have been placed on alert as Typhoon Kajiki, the 13th typhoon of the year, is forecast to bring gales and rainstorms, reported Xinhua.
At 11 am yesterday, Hainan activated a Level IV emergency response for flood and typhoon control, as strong winds and downpours are expected to hit its sea areas and islands, according to the provincial Disaster Prevention, Mitigation and Relief Commission.
Meanwhile, Guangdong’s headquarters for flood and typhoon control and drought relief launched a Level IV emergency response for typhoon control, due to strengthened wind conditions in the province’s waters.
According to Guangdong’s provincial meteorological observatory, heavy rains and strong winds are forecast to sweep the Leizhou Peninsula and the coastal areas of the cities of Maoming, Yangjiang and Jiangmen between today and tomorrow. Typhoon Kajiki developed from a tropical depression over the South China Sea on Saturday morning.
At 8 am, its centre was located around 770 kilometres (km) east of Hainan’s Sanya City over the sea, with a maximum wind speed of 18 metres per second and a central pressure of 998 hectopascals.
A hectopascal (hPa) is a unit of pressure, specifically 100 pascals, used to measure atmospheric pressure, most commonly in meteorology for weather forecasting.
The typhoon is forecast to continue moving in a westnorthwest direction at about 25 km per hour, with its intensity strengthening further.
It is likely to make landfall or pass close to the southern coast of Hainan Island around Sunday evening, before heading toward the central and northern coastal regions of Vietnam. – BERNAMA-XINHUA
