China prepares for more heavy rain from back-to-back storms

HONG KONG - China’s coastal areas and southern regions are preparing for days of intense precipitation, with tens of thousands of people evacuated as Typhoon Narra tracks inland and another storm churns towards the country’s eastern seaboard.Narra made landfall as a tropical storm on the evening of Aug 25 in the southern island province of Hainan after lingering over the Beibu Gulf – also known as the Gulf of Tonkin – for several days, dumping heavy rain across Guangxi, Hainan and Guangdong.Narra and the accompanying Typhoon Saudel, alongside tropical cyclones Gaenari and Atsani, form a rare quartet of storms swirling simultaneously across the North-west Pacific and South China Sea, according to China’s Meteorological Administration.The multi-storm system has forced the regional authorities, including in Guangxi and Hainan, to close businesses, suspend tourist operations and evacuate tens of thousands of residents.Heavy rain is expected to persist in the south, even as recent downpours have already pushed rivers over warning levels and inundated low-lying areas in Guangxi.Typhoon Saudel is forecast to make landfall along China’s eastern seaboard between Zhejiang and Fujian provinces between Aug 27 and Aug 28, with weather models projecting its outer rain bands could extend back towards Guangxi.Saudel swept across Japan’s Okinawa prefecture early on Aug 26, prompting weather agencies to issue warnings for destructive winds and high seas. As the storm moved west, it brought the Amami island chain in Kagoshima Prefecture into its storm-force wind radius, leaving nearly 35,000 homes without power, according to Kyushu Electric.A total of 92 flights serving airports across Okinawa Prefecture were cancelled on Aug 26, while All Nippon Airways suspended all flights to and from Naha Airport, the prefecture’s main gateway, public broadcaster NHK reported.Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration said Saudel is tracking north of the island, where it is expected to gradually weaken and shrink in storm radius, bringing moderate rainfall to parts of northern and southern Taiwan through Aug 28. REUTERS