East China gets poised for approaching Typhoon Gaemi

The provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang in east China upgraded their alerts for typhoons on Wednesday, as Typhoon Gaemi, the third typhoon of this year, is projected to hit Fujian's coast on Thursday.

Fujian raised the emergency response level for typhoons from Level III to Level II, the second-highest level, on Wednesday. It also announced that it would halt all passenger train services on Thursday, with some services also being suspended on Friday. Meanwhile, Zhejiang upgraded its alert to Level III on Wednesday noon.

Around 9am Wednesday, the center of Gaemi was located approximately 195 km southeast of Taiwan's Yilan County, packing winds of up to 201.6 km per hour near its center. The typhoon is forecast to move northwest at an estimated speed of 15 km per hour and gain force.

The typhoon is expected to make landfall along the coast of central or northern Taiwan on Wednesday night. After crossing the island, it is projected to make landfall between Thursday afternoon and midnight along the coast between Fujian's Fuding and Jinjiang, according to the meteorological authorities in Fujian.

Fujian provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters also activated a level IV emergency response for rainstorms on Wednesday.

Influenced by the typhoon, rainstorms are expected to lash many parts of Fujian in the coming three days, and the province's central and northern coastal areas are likely to record accumulated rainfall of up to 350 millimeters, with some areas even exceeding 600 millimeters.

Starting from Wednesday, coastal areas in Zhejiang are expected to see gales and rainstorms. Winds of up to 149.04 km per hour are likely to sweep nearby waters of cities including Wenzhou and Taizhou. Heavy downpours are estimated to batter some parts of Wenzhou, Taizhou, Lishui, Quzhou, as well as other cities.

Zhejiang's maritime safety administration has required ships navigating along its coast to make proper voyage plans and move away from the typhoon-affected areas as soon as possible.

Currently, the landing of the typhoon coincides with the peak tourist season on Zhejiang's islands. To avoid tourists being stranded on these islands, local authorities in Wenzhou have initiated emergency plans and organized the orderly evacuation of tourists on the islands.

So far, Fuzhou Changle International Airport in Fujian has canceled 13 flights, and the departure of multiple flights has been delayed.

As of 10am Wednesday, a total of 66 passenger ferry routes and 180 passenger ferry vessels along the coast of Fujian have been suspended. The passenger ferry services in the cities of Ningde, Fuzhou, Pingtan and Quanzhou have all been halted, and some ferry routes in Xiamen, Zhangzhou and Putian are also being gradually suspended.

The Fujian Maritime Safety Administration has dispatched four rescue helicopters and three professional rescue vessels on standby along the province's coast, and 49 patrol boats and 104 tugs are also ready for emergency response.