Beijing, July 26 (EFE).- China on Wednesday declared a red alert – the highest of its four-tier color coded weather warning system -, ahead of the imminent arrival of super typhoon Doksuri on its southern coast.
Doksuri, the fifth typhoon this year, is expected to hit the coastal areas of the southern Fujian and Guangdong provinces on Friday morning, the China Meteorological Administration said on Wednesday morning.
The typhoon, with maximum wind speeds of 209 kilometers per hour near the eye, was located on Wednesday in the Bashi Channel, a strait between Philippines’ Y’Ami Island and Taiwan’s Orchid Island.
The agency said that the typhoon was expected to move northwest at a speed of 10-15 kilometers per hour, with little change in intensity.
Local authorities estimate that the typhoon, the first to trigger the highest warning level this year, may be the strongest to hit eastern Guangdong in the last decade.
Amid this scenario, the province has upgraded its typhoon emergency response to Level III- the third highest -, state-run news agency Xinhua reported.
South Asia expects Doksuri to bring torrential downpours and strong winds in some areas so a warning has been issued to ships and workers operating in nearby seas to return to ports in time to seek shelter.
The city of Shantou in eastern Guangdong will suspend some high-speed train services between Wednesday and Sunday as a precautionary measure.
The arrival of the typhoon in the vicinity of Taiwan has already led to the cancellation of some parts of its largest annual military drills. EFE
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