Typhoon Meranti makes landfall at SE China's Fujian Province

Meranti, the 10th typhoon to hit China this year, made landfall at Shishi city in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian at 3:30 a.m. Friday, packing winds of up to 35 meters per second at its center, according to provincial flood control authorities.

A total of 145,300 people in Fujian were evacuated to avoid rain- and wind-triggered accidents.

About 33,200 fishing boats returned to port before 8:00 p.m. Thursday to take refuge from the typhoon.

Meranti will bring up to 100 mm of rainfall to Fujian's Quanzhou, Putian, Fuzhou and Ningde cities Friday, according to meteorological authorities' forecast.

The typhoon has brought heavy rains and strong winds to neighboring Zhejiang Province, too. It is expected to cross into Zhejiang Province Friday afternoon.

Meranti will move northwestward at a speed of 20 km per hour and gradually weaken, authorities forecast.

Meranti is also forecast to bring rains to Anhui Province from Saturday and threaten more than 5 million mu (about 333,333 hectare) of crops.

The National Meteorological Center Friday raised the warning level from yellow to orange after the 10th tropical storm of the season was upgraded to a typhoon.

China has a four-color rainstorm warning system, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, and then yellow and blue.

The center also said in a statement Meranti will bring strong winds and torrential rains to parts of southern China until late Friday night.

Source:Xinhua
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