Eastern parts of Jiangsu Province are bracing themselves for the destructive power of Typhoon Meihua. With the next few days critical, every possible precaution is being taking to prevent loss of life, including the evacuation of thousands to safer places.
Typhoon Meihua has been bearing down on eastern China, causing the Central Meteorological Observatory to issue the first red typhoon warning of this year at 10:00 today, 14 September.
The centre of the Typhoon was at that time approximately 185 kilometres out to sea, southeast of Xiangshan County in Zhejiang Province’s Ningbo City.
According to Jiangsu Meteorology, Meihua will cross into our Province early tomorrow morning and progress from south to north.
But our coastline is already feeling the effects and preparing for some very nasty conditions.
Xinhua Daily has reported that some 28,684 people in Jiangsu alone had been evacuated by 16:00 yesterday, 13 September.
Along the coastline, a total of 4,993 vessels have returned to their ports and have been instructed to frequently check their anchors. Boats on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal have also been stacked side by side to prevent them damaging each other.
Still on the water, the massive Lake Tai in Suzhou has been closed to navigation, while in Nantong, ferry services across the Yangtze River have been suspended.
Elsewhere, almost two and a half thousand municipal hazards, such as billboards, have been taken down or shored up. Many construction sites have been closed and over one thousand gantry cranes or tower cranes dismantled. Displaced construction workers in Zhoushan, on the archipelago of islands off Ningbo, have been given temporary accomodation in places such as Zhoushan Youth Sports School basketball hall, reports The Paper.
Meihua is the strongest typhoon yet to hit Jiangsu this year. Accumulated rainfall of 70-150 mm is expected in most parts of the Province, with 200-250 mm in some eastern areas. Winds of Gale Force 12-15 are to be expected in areas close to the centre of Meihua, gusting to Gale Force 16-17.
