China renews alerts for rainstorms, typhoon

BEIJING - China's National Meteorological Center (NMC) on Monday renewed a yellow alert for rainstorms and a blue alert for the 19th typhoon of this year, with heavy rainfall and strong winds forecast to affect multiple regions of the country.

From 8 am Monday to 8 am Tuesday, torrential rain is expected to lash parts of Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Taiwan, Hainan, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Yunnan, Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang, according to the NMC.

Intense downpours will hit southeastern Zhejiang, the eastern coastal areas of Fujian, northern Guangdong, most parts of Taiwan Island, and eastern Liaoning, with some areas in Taiwan likely to see exceptionally heavy rain of 250 to 300 millimeters.

The affected areas will experience short-term heavy rainfall, with hourly precipitation reaching 20 to 50 millimeters, accompanied by thunderstorms and gales, the NMC said.

Meanwhile, the 19th typhoon of this year was located at 5 am Monday in the Beibu Gulf, about 185 kilometers southwest of Beihai city in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, with maximum winds of 23 meters per second near its center.

It is expected to track eastward from Monday night and then travel northward at a speed of 5 to 10 kilometers per hour, gradually approaching the coastal areas from Guangxi to the western Leizhou Peninsula in Guangdong province.

The NMC has advised local governments to take precautionary measures.

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