China's national observatory on Tuesday issued an orange alert for Typhoon Higos, which is expected to bring gales and torrential rains to south China.
The typhoon, the seventh this year, strengthened into a severe tropical storm at 5 p.m. on Tuesday and was centered at waters 305 km southeast of Taishan City in south China's Guangdong Province, packing winds of up to 25 meters per second, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) said.
The NMC expects the typhoon to move northwestward at a speed of around 20 km per hour before making landfall in coastal areas between Zhuhai and Wuchuan in Guangdong on Wednesday morning, where it will gradually weaken.
From Tuesday evening to Thursday, gales are expected to hit parts of the South China Sea and the coastal waters of Guangdong Province, according to the NMC.
In the same period, regions including parts of Hainan, Guangdong, and Yunnan provinces, as well as Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region will experience downpours, with some areas to see up to 250 mm of rainfall, it said.
China has a four-tier color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe weather, followed by orange, yellow, and blue.
Prompted by Typhoon Higos, China's State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters on Tuesday activated a Level IV emergency response against typhoons and floods, the lowest level of China's four-tier emergency response system.
The headquarters and the Ministry of Emergency Management stressed at a Tuesday meeting the need to closely monitor the development of Typhoon Higos, and to timely relocate vessels and people in areas likely to be affected, while calling for precautions against disasters like floods and urban waterlogging.