China issues yellow alert for Typhoon Malakas, second storm in a week

Authorities say heavy rainfall will sweep parts of Zhejiang and Fujian provinces on the Chinese mainland.

China government issued a yellow alert for Typhoon Malakas on Saturday, just after the southeastern provinces experienced super Typhoon Meranti, the state news agency Xinhua reported.

The National Meteorological Center said Malakas will be the 16th storm of this year's typhoon season. Authorities said the typhoon was observed 135 kilometers off Taiwan's east coast at 10am, local time, on Saturday, bringing winds of up to 50 meters per second as it moved northwest.

The centre warned that heavy rainfall will sweep parts of Zhejiang and Fujian provinces on the Chinese mainland as well as the central and north parts of Taiwan from Saturday to Sunday. Officials are expecting up to 120 millimeters of rainfall.

China's National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center advised the ships to stay out of those areas as waves as high as 3.8 metres are expected in the coastal provinces.

Xinhua reported that support teams have already been sent Zhejiang and Fujian provinces as well as the commercial hub of Shanghai to prepare aid and relief.

Malakas has prompted schools and companies to close down and disrupted flights and train services in Taiwan. However, no damage or casualties have been reported yet.

Typhoon Malakas came immediately after Typhoon Meranti that killed at least 14 people and another 14 are still missing in southeast regions of China. Thousands of people were displaced and many homes were without power.

It had largely dissipated on Friday afternoon causing landslide near the Chinese port city of Xiamen in Fujian province.

Typhoon Meranti had a huge effect on Taiwan as well. It disrupted the train services and dozens of flights were cancelled. Schools and other institutions remained closed due to the typhoon.

Reports said that one person died and 38 were injured in Taiwan. The Central Weather Bureau of Taiwan marked Meranti as the Category 5 storm.

Hundreds of people were evacuated and nearly 200,000 households were without power across the island nation.

The weather officials in both China and Taiwan said Meranti was the strongest storm of its kind this year.

Typhoons are quite common at this time of the year as they pick up strength while they cross the warm waters of the Pacific. As a result of this, the storms bring fierce winds and rainfall when they hit the land.

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