China’s southern and eastern coastal regions are preparing for prolonged severe weather as a rare combination of four concurrent storms across the Northwest Pacific and South China Sea disrupts transportation, prompts mass evacuations, and threatens flooding. Local emergency authorities across multiple provinces have suspended commercial activities, closed public facilities, and moved tens of thousands of residents away from vulnerable low-lying areas.
The immediate threat stems from Typhoon Narra, which made landfall in the island province of Hainan as a tropical storm after spending days lingering over the Beibu Gulf. The system generated heavy precipitation across Hainan, Guangxi, and Guangdong, swelling local rivers past safety thresholds and inundating urban streets. Emergency officials in Guangxi have raised alert levels as torrential downpours continue to impact the area, says Reuters.
Concurrently, Typhoon Saudel is tracking toward the eastern seaboard after passing across Japan’s Okinawa prefecture and the Amami island chain in Kagoshima Prefecture.
Read more about this topic: Typhoon Narra forced 54,000 evacuations in southern China. A second storm, Super Typhoon Saudel, is already tracking toward the region (with video)
The storm caused widespread power outages affecting tens of thousands of households in Japan and disrupted air travel across the Ryukyu Islands, leading to extensive flight cancellations at Naha Airport. Forecasts indicate Saudel could make landfall between Zhejiang and Fujian provinces later in the week, with outer rain bands expected to compound flooding conditions across southern China.
Along with tropical cyclones Gaenari and Atsani, the active weather pattern presents an unusual challenge for meteorologists and disaster response teams. Weather agencies in Taiwan project that Saudel will pass north of the island, bringing moderate precipitation to regional parts through the end of the week before weakening as it moves closer to the Chinese mainland.
