Tweet
Typhoon Muifa likely to land
in east China over weekend
in east China over weekend
A fishing vessel returns to Chongchan port to shelter from typhoon Muifa in Xiangshan
County, east China's Zhejiang Province, Aug. 5, 2011. Powerful typhoon Muifa is likely to
make landfall over east China's Zhejiang Province on Saturday night or in the daytime of
Sunday, local meteorological authorities said Friday. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)
HANGZHOU, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- More than 206,000 residents in the coastal
areas of east China's Zhejiang Province have been evacuated as it braced
for the strongest typhoon in years.
Typhoon Muifa will likely make landfall in Zhejiang Saturday night or during
the day on Sunday, local meteorological authorities said Friday.
Muifa, the ninth typhoon to hit China this year, was located about 660 km
southeast of Zhejiang's city of Zhoushan at 5 p.m. Friday, according to the
Zhejiang Provincial Meteorological Station.
Packing winds of up to 162 km per hour near its center, Muifa is heading
northwest at a speed of 10 km to 15 km per hour, the station said.
The storm will bring strong winds and torrential rains to parts of Zhejiang,
it said.
Zhao Hongzhu, chief of the Zhejiang provincial committee of the
Communist Party of China, has ordered checking all low-lying and other
dangerous places to make sure every one has been relocated.
Lu Zushan, governor of Zhejiang, ordered stepping up safety precautions
for the Qinshan nuclear power plant and local chemical companies.
To brace for the forthcoming typhoon, several coastal cities in Zhejiang
also have temporarily closed tourist destinations and evacuated tourists.
On Wednesday night, Muifa abated from a super typhoon to a strong
typhoon, but it is still expected to be one of the most powerful typhoons
to hit China in recent years.
Muifa will probably move further inland after landing, bringing rainfall to
more than ten provinces over an area of 1 million square km, said Lou
Maoyuan, deputy chief of the Zhejiang Provincial Meteorological Station.
The typhoon is expected to last for 11 days before it finally wanes, said
Lou.
Lou added that it will be quite difficult to fend against Muifa, as strong
winds, torrential rains, huge waves and high tides will simultaneously batter
the country's shores.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs issued a circular Thursday ordering civil affairs
agencies in the city of Shanghai and the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu,
Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi and Shandong to monitor the situation closely and
carry out disaster relief operations in a timely manner.
Government-run storage bases for relief materials in the cities of Hefei,
Fuzhou, Wuhan and Changsha were also advised to prepare for the
possible dispersal of their materials.
The ministry, along with the National Commission for Disaster Reduction,
sent a work team to Zhejiang Thursday to direct preparatory work for the
typhoon.
More than 4,000 vessels have been called back to harbor in Zhejiang's
cities of Ningbo and Taizhou.
In Fujian, flood control authorities have called more than 5,000 fishing
vessels back to the city's harbor.
Shanghai railway authorities have established an inspection team to
examine high-speed railway facilities, stating that some train services may
run behind schedule or even be halted depending on the storm's severity.
Muifa will start to move over the East China Sea on Friday evening,
according to a statement from China's National Marine Environmental
Forecasting Center.
The forecasting center is continuing its orange alert for high sea waves,
the second-highest alert in the four-level high wave warning system. The
center said that the East China Sea will see waves of 9 to 12 meters high
from Friday to Saturday, with waters near Shanghai and Zhejiang
experiencing waves of 3 to 4.5 meters high during the same period
Waters near Jiangsu and Fujian provinces will also see waves of 2.5 to 3.5
meters high, the statement said.
The center on Friday morning also issued a yellow alert, the warning
system's second-lowest alert, for storm surges caused by the typhoon.
Coastal areas between the estuary of the Yangtze River and Fujian
Province are expected to see their water levels increase by 50 to 120 cm
between Friday morning and Saturday morning.
Water levels in Fujian may exceed safe levels, according to the statement.
Typhoon Muifa likely to land in east China over weekend
It's impressive how quickly they are taking the necessary precautions.