15th tropical storm forecast to hit south China
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Weather services in south China's Hainan and Guangdong provinces warned of gales and heavy rains in the coming three days, brought by a new tropical storm formed early Sunday in seawaters north of Luzon of the Philippines.
The new storm, the 15th of the year, is yet to be named.
The Hainan Provincial Observatory forecast at 11 a.m. Sunday the new tropical storm would arrive at seawaters off western Guangdong on Monday night, bringing strong winds and heavy rains to Hainan, which lies to the southwest of Guangdong, in the next three days.
The Hainan weather service said the 15th tropical storm was located at 19 degrees north latitude and 120 degrees east longitude at 9 a.m. Sunday, packing up strong winds with an instant speed of 64.8 kilometers per hour at its eye.
The new tropical storm will move northwestward at a speed of 10 km per hour and will further gain strength on the way before arriving in seawaters off western Guangdong coast on Monday night, said the weather forecast.
All ports on Hainan Island gave alarms as of 11 a.m Sunday to warn ship owners about advancing of the new tropical storm.
The new tropical storm followed on the heels of the Tropical storm Mujigae, which left Hainan two days ago. The storm brought economic losses of 56.43 million yuan (8.3 million U.S. dollars) to the province, and forced the evacuation of nearly 50,000 people. Influenced by the storm, some farm land, fish ponds, roads and water conservation systems were flooded.
The flood control, drought relief and wind prevention headquarters in Guangdong issued warnings at 1 p.m. Sunday, informing owners of some 4,000 ships and boats of the impending tropical storm and asking them to return to harbors to take shelter before 1 p.m. Monday.
The Guangdong headquarters also told offshore aquaculture workers to seize time and evacuate to safe places.
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