Heavy rainstorms to hit southern China after Typhoon Koinu batters Taiwan

BEIJING – Heavy rainstorms and strong winds will hit southern China in the next three days as Typhoon Koinu approaches the coast of Guangdong province after killing one and injuring hundreds in Taiwan.

Typhoon Koinu, which means puppy in Japanese, will bring heavy rain along the coasts of Guangdong and neighbouring Fujian province in the next three days, China's National Meteorological Centre (NMC) said.

The NMC said rainfall in Guangdong could reach more than 300 millimetres. It also issued a yellow alert for strong winds, the third highest in a four-coloured warning system.

Guangdong province has suspended dozens of ferry routes since late Thursday (Oct 5) and the NMC warned tourists to stay away from beach resorts on the last day of a week-long national holiday on Friday.

Typhoon Koinu was travelling around 144 km/h off the coast of the southern Guangdong city of Shanwei as of 8am on Friday, said the NMC, slowing down from the 252 km/h on Thursday in Taiwan.

The typhoon is expected to weaken into a strong tropical storm from late Friday and grow weaker as it heads west along China's southern coast, it said.

Typhoon Koinu killed one person and injured almost 400 people in Taiwan, causing the most extensive damage on remote Orchid Island off Taiwan's east coast and home to around 5,000 people, although no one was injured on the island.

More than 70 boats were overturned or sunk in a harbour on the island, two schools were seriously damaged and power cut due to the typhoon. An air force helicopter was flying in engineers to restore electricity on Friday.

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