China renews blue alert for Typhoon Haishen

BEIJING -- China's national observatory on Sunday renewed a blue alert for Typhoon Haishen, which is expected to generate strong winds to affect parts of eastern China's coastal areas.

The super typhoon, the tenth this year, was observed on the northwestern Pacific Ocean, about 600 km south of Japan's Kyushu island at 8 am Sunday, producing a maximum wind force of 187.2 km per hour near its center, the National Meteorological Center said.

The NMC forecast the typhoon to move northwest at a speed of 30 km per hour and gradually weaken.

From Sunday afternoon to Monday afternoon, gales are expected to hit parts of the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, waters near Diaoyu Island and off eastern Taiwan, as well as coastal regions of the Liaodong Peninsula, the Shandong Peninsula and Zhejiang province.

The NMC has advised people and vessels in disaster-prone areas to shelter from winds.

China has a four-tier color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe weather, followed by orange, yellow and blue.