A boat is hoisted ashore to take shelter from the upcoming Typhoon Nida in Shenzhen
The Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) raised the alert for Typhoon Nida at 7 p.m. last night to a Signal 3 storm as the typhoon began its approach in the direction of the Pearl River estuary, reportedly packing winds of up to 135km per hour.
According to the latest predictions of the storm’s trajectory, it is expected to make landfall near the Pearl River estuary today, directly striking mainland China, possibly in Shenzhen.
In the early hours of yesterday morning, SMG issued a Signal 1 warning for the incoming storm, which was then less than 800km from the city.
By 7 p.m. yesterday afternoon, with Typhoon Nida estimated to be about 330km east-southeast of Macau and forecasted to move north-west at around 25km per hour, SMG had raised the warning to a Signal 3. SMG earlier wrote in an emailed statement to the Times that it has “not ruled out the possibility of hoisting a higher signal.”
An additional yellow “storm surge” alert had been issued last night, as was a general thunderstorm warning. Yesterday, TurboJet suspended the ferry routes linking Hong Kong and Shenzen airports to Macau.
As of yesterday afternoon, 32 flights arriving or departing at the Macau International Airport for the remainder of yesterday and today were either delayed or suspended, a representative of the entity told the Times. The main destinations and points of origin included locations across China, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Flights to Taiwan appear to be unaffected.
The storm arrived in the South China Sea following a trajectory that saw it lash out at parts of the Philippines and unleash almost 300mm of rainfall on the archipelago country as it passed.
In the neighboring SAR, the Hong Kong Observatory stated early yesterday that it was considering increasing the Signal 3 warning to a much stronger Signal 8. By 9 p.m. the higher warning was in place for the city.
In response, more than 120 flights scheduled for Monday and Tuesday in Hong Kong were cancelled, with airlines such as Cathay Pacific and Dragonair suspending all flights between late Monday night and Tuesday afternoon.
Nearby Guangzhou and Shenzhen have both raised the typhoon yellow alert as well.
Other parts of China have issued an orange alert warning for gales and torrential rain, the second-highest level on the country’s four-tier system.
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