China renews blue alert for Typhoon Maysak

BEIJING - China's national observatory Wednesday renewed a blue alert for Typhoon Maysak, which is expected to bring strong winds and rainstorms to eastern and northern China.

The typhoon, the ninth this year, was observed on the northern East China Sea, about 315 km south of the island of Jeju in the Republic of Korea at 9 am Wednesday, with a maximum wind force of 42 meters per second at its center, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) said.

The NMC forecast the typhoon to move northeast at a speed of around 30 km per hour and gradually weaken.

From Wednesday afternoon to Thursday afternoon, gales are expected to hit parts of the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea and the coastal areas of Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Shandong.

Meanwhile, rainstorms with up to 90 mm of precipitation will sweep parts of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning during the period.

The NMC has advised people and vessels in disaster-prone areas to shelter from winds.

China has a four-tier color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe weather, followed by orange, yellow and blue.