More than 180,000 people have been evacuated from coastal areas to safe
places in south China's Guangdong Province as typhoon Chanchu, the first
tropical storm of this year, is approaching.
The province had called back 25,219 ships operating on sea by Tuesday night,
according to the provincial disaster relief office on Wednesday.
According to the latest broadcast of the provincial meteorological station,
Chanchu was located at a sea area 440 kilometers south of Shanwei City in
Guangdong by 8:00 a.m. Wednesday, and it was moving northeastward with the
maximum wind speed of 45 meters per second at its center, or 14 on the wind
scale.
Influenced by typhoon Chanchu, force 8 gale was reported in central Guangdong
and sea areas east of the province, and force 6 to 8 gales were also reported in
areas near the estuary of the Pearl River and southeastern coastal areas of
Guangdong, said the provincial meteorological station.
Typhoon Chanchu is expected to move northward at a speed of 20 km or 23 km
per hour in upcoming 24 hours, said Huang Zhong, a weatherman with the
meteorological station of Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province.
The typhoon may land in the coastal areas between Huidong and Raoping
Counties between noon and night on Wednesday or may move toward the Taiwan
Strait, passing the eastern coast of Guangdong, Huang said.
Whether the typhoon lands in Guangdong or not, it would powerfully influence
the province, Huang said.
Considering Typhoon Chanchu's route of movement and its strength, the
Guangdong Provincial Hydrological Bureau forecast that the typhoon might bring
storm tides to the eastern coastal areas of Guangdong, resulting in the rise of
sea level much higher than the danger mark and threatening the safety of ships
and life of people in these areas.
Currently, local governments have called on all ships operating on sea and
residents of coastal areas to evacuate from dangerous places as quickly as
possible.
Chanchu, whose name means "pearl", formed in the northwestern Pacific, about
550 km to the east of Mindanao island in the Philippines on May 9. It hit
central Philippines on Saturday, killing at least 32 people and leaving more
than 1,000 others homeless.
