Typhoon

Typhoon approaches coastal provincesEast China's coastal provinces face the threat of catastrophic storm tides today as Typhoon Matsa approaches, the National Meteorological Centre warned yesterday. (A rescue helicopter lifts crew members from a cargo ship stranded in a typhoon near a port in southern Taiwan's Kaohsiung county, July 19, 2005. )Having started out as a tropical storm, Matsa is forecast to advance across the southeastern East China Sea, before slamming into coastal areas of East China's Zhejiang Province. Related strong gales are predicted for Taiwan, parts of Fujian, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Jiangsu with accompanying rainstorms. "Coastal authorities should be well prepared for the typhoon as it could combine with a local spring tide to cause increased devastation," the centre warned. Following the downpours earlier this week, torrential rains will continue to lash eight provinces across Northeast, Central and East China, including parts of Liaoning, Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Hunan and Zhejiang. "In the next three days, damage is likely to be caused by weather including lightning, thunder, hailstorms and gales," a spokesman said. However, the rainfall will benefit some areas plagued by the persistent heat wave in the South and prolonged drought in the North. After hot and stuffy weather across Central China and parts of East China, downpours since Wednesday have pushed the mercury to below 35 C in many cities including Beijing.