Typhoon Megi killer gets closer to China
Susan Stumm (AFP) - 5 hours ago
BEIJING - canceled flights, ferry services suspended, evacuation of tens of thousands of people, China is preparing for Friday's arrival Megi, the strongest typhoon in 20 years in this area of the Pacific Ocean.
The typhoon is expected to reach the Chinese coast, a priori, Fujian province (southeast) on Friday night or Saturday morning, meteorologists said.
Friday at 0600 GMT, Megi was 250 km from the border between the coastal provinces of Fujian and Guangdong, growing at a speed of 10 km / h, according to the national weather center. He was accompanied by winds of up to 173 km / h.
Megi has already killed at least 36 dead and 23 missing in Philippines Taiwan: 20 Taiwanese and three Chinese citizens.
Over 150,000 people were evacuated in Fujian and tens of thousands of fishing vessels were recalled to their home ports and at sea prohibited in this province and the neighboring Guangdong, reported the agency New China.
At least 10,000 people were evacuated, authorities in Guangdong, which could see breaking waves up to seven meters high.
The passage of Megi, accompanied by strong winds and torrential rain, increase the risk of mudslides, landslides and flooding, had said on Wednesday the Chinese National Centre of Meteorology.
The State Oceanic Administration has issued an alert indicating that rising water levels could exceed the alarm level.
"The storm could be so devastating as buildings, docks, villages and cities could be destroyed," warned Bai Yiping, chief forecaster of the Administration, quoted by Xinhua.
The airline China Southern Airlines has canceled flights from Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, and Xiamen, Fujian's second largest city, to Manila, the Philippines' capital, and planned disruptions for services of other Asian cities Southeast.
Domestic flights from Guangzhou - megalopolis of 14 million people - were also disrupted, said the China Daily, quoting airport sources.
Officials of the Municipality of Guangzhou have asked the organizers of Asian Games to do everything to protect the infrastructure of the international event next month.
"The sports festival is to open in the capital of Guangdong Province on November 12 as planned," said the deputy governor of the province, Li Ronggen, quoted by China Daily.
Many coastal towns were also suspended ferry services, the paper added. Dikes have been reinforced in ports and fishing infrastructure protection.
The ferry routes between the mainland and Hainan Island have been suspended too.
In Hong Kong, several oil terminals were closed Thursday and tankers had to drop anchor at a distance, while the distribution of fuel to vessels was suspended.
Hong Kong was installing shelters around the city to accommodate residents who were evacuated from their homes, said David Leung, Deputy Director of Internal Affairs of the territory.
In Taiwan, the Central Weather Bureau issued an alert due to torrential rains that caused landslides and disrupted rail traffic.
Megi will be the 13th typhoon to hit China this year, a year that was marked by an accumulation of natural disasters.
The country experienced its worst floods in 10 years that killed more than 4,300 dead or missing and massive landslides here in Gansu (northwest), in which 1,500 people were killed in August.
