China readies for Typhoon Megi

Beijing, September 26 

China today activated a level-3 emergency response for the approaching typhoon 'Megi' expected to hit the country tomorrow. The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters urged local authorities to take precautions and dispatched five work teams to the provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Hunan to prepare aid and relief.

Typhoon Megi, the 17th typhoon this year, is expected to make landfall in Taiwan tomorrow afternoon and move to the coastal areas of Fujian and Guangdong on Wednesday morning, according to a statement from the headquarters.

The regions in Megi's path have only just been hit by Meranti and Malakas, the 14th and 16th typhoons of this year, making disaster response and relief work more difficult, the statement said.

Malakas and Meranti left 29 people dead and 15 missing in five provincial-level regions as of September 19 morning, official data show.

So far the centre of the typhoon was about 440 km southeast of Taitung in Taiwan, packing winds of up to 45 meters per second, the National Meteorological Centre (NMC) said.

Megi will head northwest at 20 km per hour, bringing wind and rain to the southeastern coast from Monday evening to Tuesday evening, according to the NMC, which renewed a yellow alert for the typhoon.

In China's four-tier severe weather warning system, red is the most serious alert, followed by orange, yellow and blue. — PTI