Heavy rain warnings across nation

China's National Meteorological Center renewed heavy rain warnings on Wednesday, cautioning that much of the country will see persistent downpours for the rest of the week amid a string of tropical cyclones making landfall along its coast.

In an early-morning advisory, the center reissued a yellow heavy rain alert and a blue alert for severe convective weather. Forecasters said heavy rainfall would persist through Saturday across eastern parts of Northwest China, North China and Northeast China.

China uses a four-tier weather warning scale. Red signals the most severe threat, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

Localized torrential rain, high winds and hail are possible in the affected zones, meteorologists added.

Heavy to torrential rain battered much of the nation in the 24 hours as of 7 am on Wednesday, including the capital Beijing, the provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Fujian, Guangdong and Hainan, the Guangxi Zhuang and Inner Mongolia autonomous regions, as well as Taiwan, meteorological data shows.

Nineteen national weather stations registered extraordinary rainstorms — rainfall topping 250 millimeters within 24 hours — while 669 stations recorded downpours of more than 100 mm.

Cangxian county in Hebei province recorded both the country's highest total accumulated rainfall and its peak hourly rainfall intensity during the event. Total precipitation hit 349.6 mm, while the maximum one-hour rainfall reached 128.3 mm, the center said.

Among China's provincial-level jurisdictions, Fujian posted the highest average rainfall at 54.4 mm, with the maximum one-hour peak of 282.3 mm, it said.

Tianjin followed, logging an average of 33.7 mm and a maximum one-hour rainfall of 111.4 mm, it added.

The center said the eastern part of Northwest China, along with North China and Northeast China, will continue to experience showers and thunderstorms through Saturday.

The intensified rainfall arrived as four successive typhoons — Saudel, Narra, Gaenari and Atsani — swirled at the same time this week across the Northwest Pacific and the South China Sea.

Coastal provinces stretching from Hainan to Zhejiang have responded by shutting tourist sites, recalling fishing boats and bracing for multiple days of heavy rain.

Typhoon Narra, the year's 19th named tropical cyclone, made its second landfall in Guangdong province early on Wednesday after weakening into a tropical depression. The storm first came ashore in Hainan on Tuesday.

Typhoon Saudel formed on Aug 19 over the Northwest Pacific, intensified into a super typhoon early Sunday and began moving toward China's eastern coastline. Forecasters project it could hit the Zhejiang or Fujian coast sometime between Thursday and Friday.

Typhoon Gaenari made landfall in Fujian on Monday before dissipating later that day over the province. Typhoon Atsani, formed on Monday morning, had weakened significantly as of early Tuesday.

Ma Xuekuan, chief forecaster at the NMC, warned authorities and residents to watch for disruptions to transportation, tourism and urban operations brought by heavy rain and severe thunderstorms. He urged precautions against localized flood-related secondary disasters and hazards spawned by severe convective weather.

"Rainfall from the previous day had caused waterlogging across 31 counties in eight cities of the central part of the province, and additional rainfall in the coming days will amplify disaster risks," said Wang Fuxia, chief forecaster with the Hebei meteorological observatory.

Zhao Haiying, chief forecaster with the Shanxi meteorological observatory, warned that repeated rainfall has brought heavy accumulated precipitation to the northern central parts of the province, and close precautions are required.

Zhang Fang, chief forecaster with the Qinghai meteorological observatory, noted that upcoming rainfall will largely fall over areas already hit by recent precipitation.

In Wenzhou, Zhejiang, authorities warned residents on Wednesday to prepare for Typhoon Saudel's predicted landfall between Xiangshan and Fuding overnight between Thursday and Friday. This will mark the city's third direct typhoon hit in two months. Residents were advised to stay indoors, secure property, follow evacuation orders and avoid online rumors during the period.

lilei@chinadaily.com.cn