Reuters reported that two tropical storms are expected to bring gusty winds and heavy rain to China's eastern seaboard this week, with the first storm forecast to make landfall on July 21.
According to the latest storm news from Chinese storm forecasters, storm Prapiroon - named after a Thai rain god - is expected to make landfall in China's southernmost island province of Hainan on July 21 as a tropical storm. strong zone. This is the first tropical storm to make landfall in China this year.
The same morning, the tropical depression in the East Sea strengthened into a storm - storm number 2 of 2024 and has the international name Prapiroon.
At 7:00 a.m. on July 21 local time, the eye of storm Prapiroon was about 275 km southeast of Van Ninh city on Hainan island.
At 1:00 p.m. on July 21, the storm's center was at about 16.8 degrees north latitude; 111.2 degrees east longitude. The strongest wind near the center of the storm is level 8 (62-74 km/h), with gusts of level 10, moving in the west-northwest direction at a speed of 10-15 km/h.
China's National Meteorological Center said the maximum wind speed near the center of the storm would reach 108 km/h when Prapiroon made landfall, and forecast heavy rain in Hainan and along the Guangdong coast, China's most populous province.
Meanwhile, the second storm with the international name Gaemi strengthened from a tropical depression at 3 a.m. on July 21. The center of Typhoon Gaemi is about 16.6 degrees north latitude, 126.7 degrees east longitude, 490 km east of Casiguran, Aurora, Philippines.
According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, at 11:00 a.m. on July 21, storm Gaemi had maximum sustained winds of 85 km/h near the center and gusts of up to 115 km/h.
The storm is moving west, traveling 20 km per hour, expected to pass over the northern tip of Taiwan (China), then make landfall in China as a typhoon, with wind speeds up to 180 km/h.
The Taiwan Weather Administration (China) expects Gaemi to be closest to the island on July 24-25, bringing heavy rain.
Extreme rainfall has hit southern, central and eastern regions of China in a flood season that started earlier than usual this year.
On July 20, the Three Gorges Dam in Hubei province, central China, accelerated flood discharge due to a significant increase in water entering the reservoir due to heavy rain upstream of the Yangtze River.
Record rainfall fell in southern China from April to June, while in the north, dry weather left fields parched and crops threatened.
In the northwestern province of Shaanxi, a bridge collapsed on the evening of July 19 amid torrential rain, causing at least 17 cars and eight trucks to plunge into the river. As of the afternoon of July 20, 12 people were confirmed dead, 31 people and 18 vehicles were still missing.
In Sichuan province in the southwest, rescuers found eight bodies and brought four people to safety at 8:00 p.m. on July 20, after more than 30 people went missing due to flash floods.
