Satellite Imagery of Typhoon Ragasa Photo:Weather China

China's National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center issued a dual red alert on Tuesday, for both storm surges and high waves—predicting that coastal waters off South China’s Guangdong will be hit by huge to extremely rough waves, with heights ranging from 4 to 7 meters. Over 10 cities in Guangdong have suspended work as a precaution.

China's National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center issued a red alert for high waves at 8:00 am on Tuesday, with forecasts showing severe maritime conditions triggered by Typhoon "Ragasa." During this period, the northern part of the South China Sea is expected to see extremely rough to phenomenal waves ranging from 8 to 13 meters, while the southern Taiwan Straits and Bashi Channel will experience huge to extremely rough waves measuring 4 to 6 meters, with an orange wave warning in place for offshore areas. 

Coastal waters of Guangdong will face huge to extremely rough waves (4-7 meters) under a red wave warning, southern Fujian’s coastal waters will have rough to huge waves (2.5-4 meters) with a yellow wave warning, and coastal areas in northern Fujian, southern Zhejiang, and eastern Hainan will see moderate to rough waves (2-3.4 meters) under a blue wave warning, the alert said.

The center also issued a red storm surge alert in line with the Emergency Response Plan for Maritime Disasters, predicting storm surges across multiple coastal regions over the same timeframe: a 40-100 cm surge along Fujian’s coast from Quanzhou to Zhangzhou; a 90-150 cm surge along Guangdong’s coast from Chaozhou to Huizhou; a 120-250 cm surge along Guangdong’s coast from Shenzhen to Jiangmen; and a 30-90 cm surge along Guangdong’s coast from Yangjiang to Maoming. 

Corresponding storm surge warning levels have been assigned, with red alerts in place for Zhongshan and Zhuhai in Guangdong, orange alerts for Shenzhen, Dongguan and Guangzhou in Guangdong, yellow alerts for Zhangzhou in Fujian as well as Chaozhou, Shantou, Jieyang, Shanwei and Huizhou in Guangdong, and a blue alert for Xiamen in Fujian.

Meanwhile, over 10 cities in Guangdong Province have suspended work. As of press time, over 10 cities have recently announced or signaled the implementation of suspensions measures of classes, work, production, transport and business operations. 

Global Times