China activates flood, typhoon emergency response for five regions

BEIJING -- China's State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters on Saturday activated a Level-IV emergency response for flood and typhoon control in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Anhui and Jiangxi, all in East China, as well as Southwest China's Sichuan province, as Typhoon Bavi barrels toward the country's eastern coast, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.

Typhoon Bavi, the ninth typhoon of the year, is expected to make landfall along the coast between Sanmen and Cangnan in East China's Zhejiang province in the early hours of Sunday. After landfall, it is forecast to move northwestward and then shift toward a more northerly direction.

Bavi was located about 460 km southeast of the border between Zhejiang and Fujian provinces, both in East China, at 9 am on Saturday, packing maximum winds of 42 meters per second near its center, the ministry said.

Earlier on Saturday, China's National Meteorological Center issued a red alert for rainstorms and an orange alert for typhoons.