Typhoon Saola is making its way towards Hong Kong and the southern coast of China after battering Taiwan with strong winds and heavy downpours earlier in the day.
The storm, which has now been upgraded to a powerful typhoon, is anticipated to lash the coast of Guangdong province in southern China this week before making landfall in Hong Kong on Friday and Saturday.
Although experts claim it's too soon to predict it, China's National Meteorological Centre predicts a decreasing tendency as the storm nears land.
On Wednesday, Saola passed close to Taiwan's southernmost point, bringing with it strong winds and rain that caused some travel disruptions and led to the island issuing land and sea alerts.
“There are still quite a lot of variables over the track and intensity going forward, because it will be affected by a northeast monsoon,” weather official Kong Yu-chau told public broadcaster RTHK.
Although the typhoon did not make direct contact with the island entirely, it did cause significant rain in the mountainous and sparsely populated areas of Pingtung County in the extreme south.
Classes and work have been put on hold in a few of these townships as well as throughout Taiwan's east coast as a precaution.
(Photo: Jelly Tse/ map: AP)
© Copyright 2023. All Rights Reserved Powered by Vygr Media.
