Typhoon Yagi heads to southern China; landfall likely on 6 Sept

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Typhoon Yagi is steadily intensifying and tracking northwestward across the South China Sea on Wednesday, with landfall expected on Guangdong province in southern China on 6 September.

The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) issued on Wednesday an orange typhoon warning – the second highest level in a four-tier scale.

Strong winds, heavy rainfall and rough seas are forecast over the central and southern coastal areas of Fujian and the central and eastern coastal areas of Guangdong province.

Yagi, which intensified into a typhoon early on Wednesday, was centered some 60 kilometers (37.28 miles) east of Wenchang city, Hainan province at 02:00 GMT, according to CMA.

It is forecast to move in a west-northwest direction at a speed of about 10 kilometers per hour, and its intensity will gradually increase before making landfall on the coast Wanning, Hainan, and Dianbai in Guangdong on the afternoon of 6 September.

Guangdong houses the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (SEZ), a major hub for industries such as electronics, telecommunications, and logistics.

The typhoon will then move into the Gulf of Tonkin in the early morning of 7 September, and then move towards the China-Vietnam border before gradually weakening.

Yagi previously made landfall as a tropical storm in the northern Aurora province of the Philippines on 2 September, killing 14 people.

It comes in the wake of Typhoon Shanshan, which crossed Japan late last month.

Shanshan had brought record-breaking rainfall triggered widespread flooding and landslides in Japan, particularly in the western and eastern regions.

Over 1,000 domestic flights and several international flights in Japan have had to be canceled due to Shanshan, affecting thousands of passengers. Rail operators had suspended Shinkansen bullet trains and other services.