Heavy rain and winds batter China

Heavy rain and powerful winds brought on by Typhoon Maysak continued to batter large parts of China on Tuesday as a super typhoon, Bavi, moved toward southeastern China and is expected to make landfall over the weekend, prompting authorities to upgrade alerts and dispatch emergency aid.

Meteorologists said on Tuesday morning that Maysak, which made landfall in the southern island province of Hainan on Friday, would continue to sweep across large parts of southern and eastern China, with rainfall of up to 260 millimeters forecast in parts of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

The heavy rainfall in Guangxi — where four flood-related deaths were reported as of Tuesday morning — is expected to weaken on Wednesday.

"Thunderstorms and strong winds reaching force 10 are also forecast in parts of Anhui and Jiangsu provinces, with gusts of up to force 13 and the possibility of tornadoes," the National Meteorological Center said as it renewed an orange alert for heavy rain and a yellow alert for severe convective weather on Tuesday morning.

China is also bracing for the approach of Super Typhoon Bavi, which has a maximum sustained wind speed of 55 meters per second near its center. The storm is expected to reach the waters off southeastern China around Friday before making landfall in the coastal areas of Zhejiang and Fujian provinces over the weekend, bringing heavy rainfall to large parts of eastern, central and northern China.

The Ministry of Water Resources said that between Monday and Tuesday afternoon, water levels in 62 rivers across the country had exceeded warning levels, with most of the affected rivers located in southern China.

On Monday, the ministry upgraded Guangxi's flood-control emergency response from Level III to Level II, the second highest in China's four-tier system.

The Ministry of Emergency Management, on the same day, raised the national geological disaster emergency response for Guangxi from Level IV to Level III.

The National Development and Reform Commission said on Monday that it had allocated 100 million yuan ($13.8 million) to support post-disaster recovery in the region. The funds are geared toward the restoration of damaged transportation and water infrastructure, as well as public service facilities, including schools and hospitals.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Emergency Management allocated 160 million yuan to support flood relief and geological disaster response efforts in Guangxi and the provinces of Hunan, Liaoning, Jilin, Anhui and Shandong.

Central government authorities have also dispatched 150,000 relief items, including tents, folding beds, quilts, summer clothing and family emergency kits, to support the evacuation, relocation and basic living needs of affected residents.

The Red Cross Society of China said on Tuesday that it plans to dispatch 5,000 emergency family kits containing daily necessities to aid displaced households in Hengzhou, Guangxi.