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China braces for Typhoon Matsa, Shanghai on alert
Storm-weary China was bracing for Typhoon Matsa, expected to batter coastal areas near the country's largest city Shanghai just weeks after Typhoon Haitong left 17 people dead, reported AFP.
Matsa pounded Taiwan with torrential rains and strong winds that forced financial markets, offices and schools to close. It was expected to make landfall near China's city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang province late Friday or early Saturday, weather officials said. Chinese meteorologists voiced concern that Matsa, packing winds of 162 kilometres (1OO miles) per hour, could cause catastrophic flooding. "Coastal authorities should be well prepared for the typhoon as it could combine with a local spring tide to cause increased devastation," said an official at the the National Meteorological Centre. Media predicted it would be the worst storm to hit Shanghai in nearly a decade, with municipal authorities ordering emergency preparations. Weather forecasters at the Zhejiang Meteorological Observatory said that while Shanghai would be strongly affected, the neighbouring city of Wenzhou was smack in the path of the eye of the storm. Wenzhou was one of the areas worst hit by Typhoon Haitang, which killed 17 people in China and Taiwan two weeks ago. The typhoon brought driving rains that caused severe floods. More than one million residents were evacuated in China, where damages totalled one billion dollars, including because livestock was killed and farmlands devastated. Haitang was the first typhoon to land in China this year, coming later than usual. The normal typhoon season starts from mid-June and ends by mid-October.
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