Workers reinforce trees in Taizhou in east China's Zhejiang Province yesterday as Typhoon Talim approached. At 5pm, the eye of Talim was 1,050 kilometers from Zhejiang's Zhoushan. (Xinhua)
Shanghai residents are being warned about gale-force winds and torrential rain from tomorrow with the approach of Typhoon Talim.
Talim, this year's 18th typhoon, is moving northwest at 30 kilometers per hour toward China's southeastern coastal areas and is growing stronger, with a high possibility of it becoming a super typhoon packing winds of up to 60 meters per second, the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau said.
China's national weather observatory yesterday issued an orange alert, the second highest level.
At 5pm yesterday, the eye of Talim was above the northwestern Pacific Ocean, 1,050 kilometers southeast of Zhoushan in Zhejiang Province, packing winds of up to 38 meters per second, the National Meteorological Center said.
It said the typhoon would either move northwest and make landfall in Zhejiang from tomorrow night to Friday morning, or move north into waters near Zhejiang on Friday and then turn northeast.
Today, Talim will bring gales to the northern East China Sea, Taiwan Strait and east coast of Taiwan, as well as parts of the South China Sea.
It is expected to hit north and northeast parts of Taiwan the hardest today and tomorrow with heavy rain and strong winds.
The island's weather bureau issued a sea warning as Talim approached. The storm poses an increasing threat to Taiwan's northern and eastern waters as it increases in intensity, the bureau said.
Talim will start to affect Shanghai from tomorrow and its influence will be felt until Saturday, forecasters said.
Tomorrow will be overcast with intermittent showers, and then it will pour down on Friday, with lightning and thunder. Gale-force winds will sweep across the city and a hurricane may form in coastal areas and Yangshan Port, forecasters said. But the winds will weaken and the rain will gradually die out on Saturday.
On Monday night, Fujian Province initiated a Grade IV emergency response, the lowest of a four-grade emergency response system.
Relevant government agencies were told to monitor Typhoon Talim and take emergency measures in a timely manner, Reuters reported.
China News Service said yesterday that Zhejiang had also initiated a Grade IV response.
If anything unusual is detected, government agencies should issue warnings and organize evacuations, the news report said.
Talim may not be the last typhoon to affect Shanghai this year. Currently, a tropical low is gaining strength to the southwest of Talim, and it may grow to become this year's 19th typhoon, Doksuri.
