Passenger shipping routes suspended in Wenzhou, Taizhou of E.China’s Zhejiang as typhoon Danas approaches

All passenger shipping routes in the waters of Wenzhou and Taizhou in East China's Zhejiang Province have been suspended as the local maritime bureau has initiated a level II emergency response for typhoon prevention in the southern waters on Monday.

China's National Meteorological Center (NMC) issued a yellow level warning for the approaching typhoon Danas on Monday morning, which already hit the Taiwan island around midnight on Monday and is expected to land in the coastal areas of East China's Zhejiang and Fujian provinces on Tuesday.

According to the maritime bureau in Zhejiang, as of 10:00 am on Monday, the authorities have issued over 62,000 typhoon warning messages through online platforms, text messages, phone calls and radio, and sent enforcement officers for on-site patrols, checking more than 9,800 ships.

There have been 121 passenger ships in Zhejiang suspended from operation and 64 passenger routes halted by Zhejiang maritime bureau. Some 181 water-related construction projects have been stopped. The wind farms under construction have ceased operations, and all wind power construction vessels have reached safe waters, the Zhejiang maritime bureau said.

According to the NMC, Danas arrived along the coast of Chiayi county on the Taiwan island around midnight on Monday. Upon landfall, it weakened from a severe typhoon to a typhoon with the maximum wind force near its center, reaching about 40 meters per second. 

CCTV News reported that due to Danas' impact, strong winds and heavy rainfall occurred in various parts of the Taiwan region from Sunday to Monday. Several cities and counties, including Hsinchu, Tainan and Kaohsiung, have suspended work and classes for the entire day on Monday. And transportation across the island has been affected to varying degrees, with a large number of flights canceled and some train services suspended.

NMC said typhoon Danas is expected to move north-northeast at a speed of 15-20 kilometers per hour, gradually weakening in strength. Starting from Tuesday morning, it will turn to move in a west-southwest direction, gradually approaching the coastal areas from Zhejiang's Taizhou to Fuzhou in East China's Fujian Province. Danas is expected to land along the aforementioned coast from the afternoon to the evening on Tuesday, said NMC

Besides bringing strong winds to a wide area from the South China Sea to the East China Sea, Danas will cause heavy to torrential rains to parts of Zhejiang and Taiwan. And on Tuesday, areas in Zhejiang and Fujian will experience torrential rains, with extremely heavy rains in some localities.