Zhang Yang

    nicolezyyy@163.com

    TYPHOON Nida, the fourth typhoon to hit China this year, is forecast to make a near-direct impact on Shenzhen during the daytime tomorrow, bringing torrential rain and gale force winds.

    The city’s meteorological observatory raised the alert level from white to blue at 6 p.m. yesterday, the fourth-most severe alert on the five-color scale, warning that the city would be affected by the typhoon within 24 hours. The observatory said the alert level could be raised soon.

    Residents are advised to avoid going to coastal areas. Those who live by the seashore or live in dangerous buildings and temporary sheds should be prepared to evacuate to safe zones.

    The typhoon is expected to make landfall at the mouth of the Pearl River in Guangdong Province early tomorrow morning, according to the National Meteorological Center (NMC), which warned the typhoon would also affect Fujian and Hainan provinces as well as the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

    The Guangdong meteorological disaster emergency office activated a Grade-3 emergency response for the typhoon at around 8 a.m. yesterday, according to the Tencent news website.

    By 4 p.m. yesterday, Nida had intensified into the second typhoon of the northwest Pacific’s tropical cyclone season, joining Super Typhoon Nepartak from earlier in July.

    It made landfall over the tip of Cagayan Province in northeastern Luzon, the Philippines, just after 3 p.m. It’s forecast to reach Category 2-equivalent strength and is putting Guangdong dead in its sights, according to the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

    At 2 p.m., Nida was 426 kilometers north-northeast of Manila and was moving northwest at 15 mph, the center reported.

    Nida continues moving west toward China’s southeast coast. It is forecast to peak with 98-mph sustained winds and 121-mph gusts early tomorrow morning as it nourishes itself over the warm, humid waters of the South China Sea.

    The typhoon’s maximum wind speed is 28 meters per second, but it is forecast to reach 38 to 45 meters per second as it makes landfall in Guangdong, according to the NMC.

    Earlier this month, Typhoon Nepartak drove at least 420,000 Chinese from their homes and caused more than 7.1 billion yuan (US$1.07 billion) in losses in Fujian Province alone.

    On Saturday, hailstones were seen in several areas in Shenzhen as the local observatory issued an alert for hail. According to a meteorological expert, the past week’s prolonged scorching weather has triggered severe convective weather, leading to the formation of hailstones.

    According to the observatory, it is hard to forecast hail 24 hours in advance due to its complicated triggering conditions. It is the first time that the city has seen a hail alert this year and the second time in its recorded history.