China's Guangdong on highest alert as Typhoon Nuri approaches
22/8/2008 17:27
South China's Guangdong Province today initiated a Class-I response to
Typhoon Nuri, the 12th tropical storm this year.
The provincial observatory
said the eye of the storm was in the South China Sea about 180 km from Shenzhen
as of 8 am today, packing strong winds.
Typhoon Nuri was moving northwest at
15 to 20 km per hour and was expected to hit the coast between Shanwei and
Yangjiang in Guangdong between this afternoon and night, said the
observatory.
It warned that it was highly possible the storm would make a
head-on strike at the economic hub of the Pearl River Delta, where the cities of
Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Zhuhai and Macau are
clustered.
Government departments were told to prepare for the typhoon's
landfall.
The observatory also put two wind-monitoring vehicles on the coast
close to the Pearl River estuary to observe wind speeds, rainfall and
destructive strength when the storm makes landfall and to provide good
information for disaster relief workers to act upon.
The province issued a
red alert for maritime users yesterday as Typhoon Nuri approached, according to
local flood control headquarters.
Force 12 winds, torrential rain and
geological hazards were expected when the typhoon landed, a headquarters
spokesman said.
As of yesterday evening, 45,374 vessels and 159,332 people
had been recalled to harbors in the province. Another 87,000 people were
evacuated.
The Ministry of Agriculture on Tuesday night issued an urgent
notice ordering fishery and agricultural departments in Fujian, Zhejiang,
Jiangsu, Shanghai, Anhui, Jiangxi and Guangdong to keep the public informed and
help fishing vessels avoid risk.
Xinhua
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