China renews highest alert as Typhoon Yagi nears

BEIJING, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- China's National Meteorological Center renewed a red alert, the highest level, for Typhoon Yagi on Friday morning as the country braces for the super typhoon.

Typhoon Yagi, the 11th typhoon of the year as counted by China's meteorological authorities, was on the sea about 150 kilometers off Wenchang City of Hainan Province at 9 a.m. Friday, the center said.

The typhoon was forecasted to travel northwestward at a speed of 15 to 20 km per hour and make landfall along the coastal areas from Hainan's Wenchang to Leizhou in Guangdong Province between Friday afternoon and evening.

It was expected to make a second landfall on Saturday afternoon along the coastal areas from Fangchenggang in Guangxi to the northern part of Vietnam.

The center warned that gales will batter parts of Guangxi, Guangdong and the South China Sea from Friday afternoon to Saturday afternoon, with heavy rainfall also expected in parts of Guangxi, Guangdong and Hainan Island.

In response, the Ministry of Water Resources has raised the emergency response for floods in Guangdong and Hainan to Level III, and dispatched four work teams to guide flood prevention efforts in Hainan, Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan.

The ministry said that efforts will be made to closely monitor the development of the typhoon, guide local governments with disaster prevention work and ensure the safety of people's lives and property.