While China continues to recover from a year of natural disasters, such as a fatal dam breach and a deadly earthquake, NPR reports that a super typhoon, Sanba, is heading for China and other parts of Asia:
It’s had top sustained winds above 170 miles per hour. It’s got very low pressure. It is life threatening. And its cone of possible landfall includes Okinawa and the Asian mainland.
The Saffir-Simpson scale only goes to a category 5. If Sanba keeps its ferocity, the National Hurricane Center warns “catastrophic damage will occur: A high percentage of framed homes will be destroyed, with total roof failure and wall collapse.”
According to CNN, the super typhoon has already passed through Okinawa, and it is making its way to South Korea:
It made landfall in northeastern Okinawa around 6:30 a.m. Sunday (5:30 p.m. ET Saturday) with an eye that was nearly half the island’s length.
There were no immediate reports of damage.
As of 9:50 p.m. ET, Samba was moving to the north at 30 kph (18 mph), the Japan Meteorological Association said.
Sanba is on track to make a direct hit on South Korea in a couple of days, the Korean Meteorological Association predicted, before moving up the Chinese coast.
While Sanba has not yet made landfall on China, Xinhua reports China’s meteorological authority’s prediction of strong winds and rainstorms:
Sanba, the 16th typhoon of the year, was positioned at about 65 kilometers east of the Japanese island of Okinawa at 5 a.m., according to a statement posted on the website of China’s National Meteorological Center (NMC).
The typhoon will move northwest at a speed of around 25 km per hour and bring heavy rainfalls to China’s northeastern provinces from Monday to Tuesday, the center said.
Storms will hit the north and southeast of Heilongjiang Province and eastern Jilin Province over the next two days, while some regions will see downpours of 100 to 120 millimeters, the NMC forecast.
The nation’s flood control authority on Friday urged residents in the coastal regions to be fully prepared for possible influences of the Sanba and take precautions against wind, moisture and strong rainfall.
The super typhoon’s trajectory is also expected to pass over the disputed Diaoyu Islands, from China Daily:
China’s meteorological authority said Saturday the super typhoon Sanba was positioned at waters 750 km southeast of Diaoyu Islands at 5 am and will move closer northward at a speed of 20 kmph.
According to forecast by the National Meteorological Center (NMC), typhoon Sanba, the 16th typhoon seen this year, will maintain or slightly weaken its strength before entering waters of the southeastern parts of the East China Sea on Saturday morning.
As a result, gales of Beaufort Force 7-9 are forecast in most parts of the East China Sea, the Taiwan Straits, waters east of Taiwan, the estuary of the Yangtze River, the Hangzhou Bay, the southern part of the Yellow Sea and coastal areas in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces from Saturday morning to Sunday morning.
According to the NMC, the super typhoon Sanba will whip up hurricanes at waters near its center as it passes through.
