With threat from Typhoon Prapiroon, south China's Guangdong Province has suspended all passenger
railway services across the Qiongzhou Strait linking the island
province of Hainan with the inland area.
The provincial meteorological authorities Thursday called on all
ships and fishermen still out on sea to return to harbor and land
as quickly as possible as Prapiroon is approaching more fast than
previously forecast.
Guangdong Provincial Meteorological Station forecast that
typhoon Prapiroon will lash the coastal area between Taishan City
and Xuwen County in Guangdong from Thursday afternoon to Friday
morning, packing heavy rain and strong wind.
According to the observatory, at 7:00 a.m. Thursday, Prapiroon
was located at 20.1 degrees north latitude and 113 degrees east
longitude, more than 300 kilometers from the coast of western
Guangdong. The wind power reached 12 degrees on the Beaufort
Scalenear its eye.
It is forecast to move westward at 15 kilometers per hour in the
coming 24 hours and will gain strength.
Influenced by typhoon Prapiroon, heavy rain hit most parts of
Guangdong starting from Wednesday and the typhoon will bring
rainstorms to western Guangdong and nearby areas from Thursday to
Saturday. The typhoon also brings force nine to 12 gales to sea
areas it swept through and to coastal areas of western
Guangdong.
Guangdong provincial observatory also called on government
departments to prepare for possible high waves, landslides,
mountain torrents, mud-and-rock flow, collapse of houses and
flooding that might be caused by the devastating typhoon.
Local railway authorities said that railway services could be
only resumed depending on weather conditions.
Prapiroon was expected to affect Hainan, Guangdong, Guangxi and
Guizhou, bringing 100 to 180 millimeters of rain, said Wang
Bangzhong, an official with the Chinese Central Meteorological
Station.
Wang predicted August would see another five or six tropical
storms form in the seas around South China Sea, but only two or
three might make landfall.
Prapiroon killed five people when it crossed the northern
Philippines earlier in the week.
Hainan and Guangdong provinces and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous
Region, all in south China, have relocated 65,000 people and
recalled 53,200 vessels to harbor by Wednesday noon.
Prapiroon, which means Rain God in Thai, formed in the South
China Sea and strengthened into a typhoon on Wednesday noon. It is
expected to lash south China for three or four days, according to
the Chinese Central Meteorological Station.
Vice Premier Hui Liangyu on Wednesday ordered meteorological
agencies to maintain their alert status and ensure timely warnings
as they monitored killer typhoon Prapiroon.
Hui, also the head of State Flood Control and Drought Relief
Headquarters, called for vessels to return to harbor and measures
to ensure safety of people in the storm's path.
China was being hit with more typhoons and tropical rainstorms
this year in part due to the warming ocean current in the northwest
Pacific and high temperatures in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, said
Wang.
The year's first typhoon, Chanchu, hit on May 18, at least 40
days earlier than most years. Prapiroon is the sixth typhoon to hit
China.
The fifth typhoon, Kaemi, in late July claimed 35 lives,
including six at a military barracks in east China's Jiangxi Province.
The fourth typhoon, Bilis, lashed south and east China and
claimed 612 lives in southern China in mid July.
(Xinhua News Agency August 3, 2006)