China on highest alert for super typhoon Chan-Hom

( chinadaily.com.cn )

Updated: 2015-07-10

Sea waves hit the shore in Shitang towship of Wenling, east China's Zhejiang Province, July 9, 2015. China is on the highest alert as super typhoon Chan-Hom approaches the eastern coast with winds of up to 187 km per hour. The National Meteorological Center issued a red alert, the highest, on Friday morning for Chan-Hom, whose center was spotted 550 km southeast off the coast of Zhejiang Province at 5 a.m. Friday. (Xinhua/Xu Yu)

HANGZHOU, July 10 (Xinhua) -- China is on the highest alert as super typhoon Chan-Hom approaches the eastern coast with winds of up to 187 km per hour.

The National Meteorological Center issued a red alert, the highest, on Friday morning for Chan-Hom, whose center was spotted 550 km southeast off the coast of Zhejiang Province at 5 a.m. Friday.

The typhoon is moving northwestward from the East China Sea and will land somewhere between Fuding in Fujian Province and Xiangshan in Zhejiang Province.

The wind speed at the center of the typhoon will top 58 meters per second at the landfall.

In Zhejiang, more than 10,000 people have been evacuated and 10,000 fishing vessels returned to harbor for shelter. The province upgraded its emergency response by two levels to prepare for the typhoon. Direct shipping route to Taiwan from Zhejiang was also suspended since Thursday.

The Fujian provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters ordered all people on coastal fishing farms in Ningde, Fuzhou, Pingtan and Putian to be displaced by 10 a.m. Friday.

Typhoon Linfa made landfall on Thursday in the southern Guangdong Province, bringing torrential rain to the coastal area. No casualties have been reported.