Tens of millions of people in East Asia are in for a drenching over the next few days, with China facing two typhoon landfalls in a week in heavily populated areas.
Tropical Storm Linfa was moving directly over Hong Kong on Thursday night into Friday, after making landfall as a typhoon earlier Thursday in the surrounding southern Chinese province of Guangdong.
The storm forced the closure of Hong Kong International Airport overnight, causing disruption to thousands of passengers.
Approximately 1,020 flights to and from the airport have had to be rescheduled due to the weather system, an airport authority spokesman told CNN.
“Passengers are advised to check with their airlines or HKIA’s website for the latest flight status before departing for the airport,” the spokesman said.
Residents warned to stay inside
Weather conditions in Hong Kong were expected to deteriorate throughout the evening.
The Hong Kong Observatory raised the Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal to No. 8 (out of 10), meaning winds of between 60 and 120 kilometers per hour (37 to 75 miles per hour) are expected. It advised residents to avoid going out on the streets and to return home as soon as possible.
In addition to the gusty winds, people in Hong Kong — as well as residents of Guangdong — will see heavy rainfall of up to 100 millimeters (4 inches) as the storm moves westward through the region and weakens over the next 34 to 36 hours.
Tropical Storm Linfa, which strengthened to typhoon intensity late Wednesday before weakening again, has already brought some heavy rainfall to the northern Philippines, including Manila.
Typhoon Chan-hom looms to east
As Linfa dissipates, China will turn its attention to another, stronger typhoon, which is expected to make landfall in eastern China on Saturday.
Typhoon Chan-hom will be significantly stronger than Linfa, potentially equal to a Category 3 hurricane when it makes landfall in eastern China around 300 kilometers south of Shanghai, a major population center and business hub.
The storm is expected to track very close to Shanghai on Sunday and could still pack typhoon-force winds when it does.
It will make close passes to Okinawa and other southern Japanese islands over the next 24 hours, as well as Taiwan, but no major impacts are expected there.
A third and most powerful storm, Nangka, which is now a super typhoon with winds of 250 kilometers per hour (150 miles per hour), is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and is not expected to hit any land over the next six days.