Typhoon Mawar rains more misery on Guangdong

Guangdong province was battered by its third typhoon in 12 days on Monday, with torrential rains again flooding urban areas in several cities.

Typhoon Mawar, the 16th typhoon formed in the northwest Pacific this year, made landfall in Lufeng at 9:30 pm on Sunday, packing winds of up to 72 kilometers per hour.

Although weaker than the previous two typhoons in recent weeks, Hato and Pakhar, authorities issued red alerts for rainstorms, while kindergartens and primary and middle schools were closed in Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Zhongshan, Shanwei, Shantou, Chaozhou and Guangzhou.

Many roads in Zhuhai and Shenzhen were flooded, cutting off traffic. More than 20 bus lines were suspended in Zhuhai, a city that felt the full force of Typhoon Hato on Aug 23.

The wind caused by Mawar was not very strong but rain was heavy, said Zhou Shuying, a resident in the city.

Roads were seriously waterlogged and many cars were submerged by water. Traffic was brought to a standstill on some roads.

Water and power supplies remained normal in Zhou’s neighborhood and the floodwater began to retreat gradually after 3 pm on Monday, she said.

Police officer Tan Jiaguang waded in water up to his waist in Zhuhai’s Nanyangpu village to reach a gong, which he rang to warn residents to relocate to emergency shelters. His station helped transport about 600 people, including in speed boats, Zhuhai Daily reported.

A minor landslide occurred in Jigongsan Street in Zhuhai on Monday morning and people living in adjacent areas were evacuated. No casualties were reported.

Several students were rescued and taken to safety in a dinghy by firefighters after their school bus stalled in a flooded street in Huangjiang town, Dongguan.

Mawar, which forced the evacuation of 57,120 people in Guangdong before it made landfall, affected power supplies to 115,000 homes and businesses. Services were fully restored by 10:30 am, according to China Southern Power Grid.

The arrival of Mawar marks the fifth time Guangdong has witnessed three typhoons in half a month since meteorological records began, with the previous case in 1993, Wu Zhifang, chief forecaster for the Guangdong Meteorological Observatory, told Xinhua News Agency.

In the past two weeks, subtropical high pressure and southwestern monsoons have remained stable, which has seen tropical depressions formed near the Philippines mostly move northwestward onto the Guangdong coastline, said Zhang Ling, chief forecaster for the National Meteorological Center.