About 620 000 people were evacuated from southern China on Wednesday as Typhoon Chanchu, the strongest storm to date to hit the region at this time of year, churned towards the coastal province of Guangdong.
By Wednesday afternoon, 320 000 people — including fishermen — had been evacuated from Guangdong’s coastal areas, China Central Television reported.
The province also ordered more than 58 000 fishing boats and other vessels to return to their home ports.
Another 300 000 people were relocated from areas in the eastern province of Fujian and all boats were recalled to port, the report said.
The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters urged residents to get out of harm’s way and sent a team to Guangdong to direct typhoon-preparation work.
The typhoon, which killed 41 people and left thousands homeless when it tore through the Philippines on Saturday, is the strongest on record to have entered the South China Sea in May, the Hong Kong Observatory said.
Nevertheless, there was no sense of national emergency in China, as mass evacuations during the typhoon season are relatively common.
In nearby Hong Kong 55 flights were cancelled, most of which were heading for mainland China.
Many ferry services were suspended and beaches closed in Hong Kong, although the typhoon passed some distance from the territory.
Off Taiwan, 13 crew members aboard a Bolivian-registered oil tanker were rescued on Wednesday after it ran aground amid high waves whipped up by Typhoon Chanchu.
At about 5pm local time, the eye of the storm was located 180km south of Guangdong’s Shanwei city as rain began to pelt the region, the China News Service reported.
“It’s travelling at 15kph,” an employee from the Guangdong Provincial Hydrological Bureau said. “We expect it will land early tomorrow morning in an area between Shanwei and Chaozhou cities.”
Local observatories were quoted by state media as saying the typhoon was moving north-eastwards at 20kph to 23kph, packing winds of 162kph near its centre, and may slam into the coastal area between Shenzhen and Raoping counties early on Thursday.
However, it may veer east toward Fujian province and the Taiwan Strait instead, the China Daily quoted meteorologists from the Guangzhou meteorological station as saying. Shantou city in the east of Guangdong could then be hardest hit, they said.
In Guangdong’s Shenzhen city, local authorities issued landslide warnings at some high-risk places and were ready to evacuate people if necessary, the China Daily said.
Advertisement billboards were either reinforced or removed. The city government advised people to stay home, close windows and move flower pots from balconies.
Four flights at the Guangzhou Baiyun International airport in Guangdong’s capital were cancelled, state-run CCTV station said, adding that flights in other cities in the province were also affected.
Nearby Fujian and Hainan provinces were also braced for damage. Hainan ordered a halt to sea and rail transport across the Qiongzhou Strait between the island and Guangdong.
Hong Kong and Guangdong regularly suffer torrential rain and flooding from typhoons that generally occur between May and November. — AFP