Guangdong raises emergency response as it braces for Typhoon Yagi

Guangdong province has asked all the fishing boats to return to shelters and told offshore workers to come ashore as the southern province raised its anti-typhoon emergency response to Level 3 from Level 4 on Wednesday morning.

Affected by Typhoon Yagi, the 11th to hit the Chinese coast this year, all the beach resorts and scenic spots will be temporarily closed and the residents living in low-lying areas will be evacuated to ensure safety and avoid casualties, according to a statement released by Guangdong provincial department of water conservancy on Wednesday.

And ferry services across Qiongzhou Strait linking the mainland to Hainan province will be suspended between Thursday and Sunday, while some train services to Zhanjiang from other parts of the mainland will also be temporarily halted when Yagi strikes the city, located in the mainland's southernmost Leizho peninsula.

Yagi made its way to the eastern part over the South China Sea on Tuesday and is moving northwestern at 15 kilometers per hour on Wednesday and is expected to hit Guangdong and Hainan provinces.

With the typhoon creating raging storms, there will be waves of six to nine meters in the northern part of the South China Sea starting Wednesday, threatening the navigation safety of ships in the waters, Guangdong Meteorological Service warned on Wednesday.

Yagi is expected to slam into eastern Hainan coast and Guangdong western coast between Thursday night and early Friday morning, according to Guangdong Meteorological Service.

To brace for the typhoon, relevant departments and coastal cities in western part of Guangdong have introduced effective and concrete measures to prevent and cope with possible flooding and related geological hazards caused by the typhoon in the days to come.