Shenzhen will experience heavy rain and strong winds from tomorrow (Oct 22) as super typhoon Megi, the 13th and possibly the strongest typhoon to hit China this year, reaches the country.
It is expected to make landfall along the Guangdong coast between Yangjiang and Shantou around Saturday.
Megi, meaning "catfish" in Korean, intensified into a Category 4 storm as it headed toward Guangdong, regaining strength after leaving 19 people dead in the Philippines.
Wind speeds inside the typhoon increased to 213 kilometers per hour from 185 kph Tuesday. Category 4 storms, the second-strongest on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, are capable of "catastrophic damage", Shenzhen's meteorological observatory said yesterday.
Megi was located 650 kilometers southeast of Shenzhen at noon yesterday, and was moving northward at a speed of 10 kilometers per hour, the observatory said.
It will affect Shenzhen tonight and its force will be stronger than Typhoon Dujuan in 2003, which killed 20 people in Shenzhen.
Although it is too early to accurately tell where Megi will make landfall, the observatory warned Megi would bring heavy storms Friday evening or Saturday morning and the State Oceanic Administration estimated waves may reach as high as 7 meters off the coast of Guangdong, Xinhua reported yesterday.
Railway authorities have temporarily stopped passenger train services into and out of Hainan, as it braces for Megi. All from Sanya to other provinces between Oct 19 and 21 have been canceled, while trains heading from other provinces to Sanya will stop at Guangzhou.
During the suspension, passengers traveling to and from the island can complete their journeys by coach or other forms of transport, said a spokesman for Haikou railway station.
Megi, the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines in the last four years, claimed at least 19 lives and caused 1.5 billion pesos (34.7 million USD) in damage.
(Han Ximin)
