China is bracing for typhoon Wutip, the first storm of the year to make landfall in the country, with strong winds and torrential rainfall expected to hit Hainan and Guangdong provinces on Friday.
Wutip, currently classified as a tropical storm, is forecast to intensify to a severe tropical storm with wind speeds of 25-30 metres per second as it approaches the coast of Hainan.
As of Thursday morning, the storm's centre was located around 205km southeast of Sanya in Hainan and was moving northwest at 10km per hour.
China's National Meteorological Centre reported "the typhoon formed at 8am in the South China Sea" and was set to gradually strengthen while tracking towards the southern coast.
It’s expected to make landfall between Lingshui and Ledong early on Friday before moving further inland into western Guangdong or Guangxi on 14 June.
"Wutip will move across the western part of southern China afterwards, slightly edging closer to the vicinity of the Pearl River Estuary,” according to the Hong Kong Observatory.
Wutip is on course to be the first typhoon to make landfall in China in 2025 but the storm’s formation is two months later than the average date of 25 March, based on NMC data from 1991 to 2020, Global Times noted. It is however forecast to reach the coast earlier than the typical first landfall date of 27 June.
Authorities have issued an emergency response alert, with working groups dispatched to Hainan and Guangdong to assist with disaster prevention efforts. The meteorological service and ocean monitoring centre in Hainan have also issued a blue wave warning, the lowest of the four-tier typhoon warning system.
"Wind and rainfall will gradually intensify in Hainan, Guangdong, and other regions in the following three days," the Chinese meteorological authorities said on Wednesday, warning of possible secondary disasters including flash floods and mudslides in small and medium-sized rivers.
Heavy rainfall is expected from Wednesday to Saturday across southern China, with parts of central and eastern Hainan forecast to receive 100 to 150mm of rain. In the mountainous regions, localised rainfall could reach up to 300mm.
The forecast warns that as Wutip moves inland and interacts with a cold front, areas such as Jiangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu may experience intensified rainfall.
Rail services in several provinces have been disrupted. The Guangzhou Railway Group has suspended all services on the Hainan Ring High-Speed Rail from 4pm on 12 June to 8am on 14 June. Trains on the Shenzhen-Zhanjiang and Guangmao railways have also been affected.
Wutip is the fifth-latest first-named storm of the West Pacific typhoon season. The only later ones include Nichole in July 1998, Nepartak in July 2016, Wilda in July 1973 and Sarah in June 1983. The region typically sees 26 named storms each year, compared to 14 in the Atlantic.
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