Officials in southern China and Hong Kong warned on Thursday that heavy rain could bring flash flooding as the remnants of Typhoon Danas move across the region.
The typhoon hit Taiwan’s populous west coast on Monday, killing two people and leaving 600,000 households without power. It crossed the Taiwan Strait and made a second landfall in China the following day. It was downgraded to a tropical depression on Wednesday morning as it continued moving inland across China’s southeast, dropping as much as 17.2 inches of rain through early Thursday.
The storm is forecast to drop as much as three inches of rain per hour through Friday as it moves to the south and southeast, including over Guangdong province, which has a population of about 127 million people, China’s meteorological agency said.
Flash flooding, landslides and other disasters are possible, Guangdong’s meteorological center said. Thunderstorms and wind gusts of up to 73 miles per hour, nearly as strong as a Category 1 hurricane, are possible, the agency said.
In Hong Kong, the typhoon’s remnants combined with monsoon rains further south will bring torrential rains and thunderstorms, the territory’s weather agency said.
The authorities there suspended schools for Friday and issued a red rain warning, the second highest, which signals more than 1.9 inches falling per hour.
Gusts of 43 miles per hour were recorded on Sha Chau Island, near the city’s airport, Hong Kong’s meteorological agency said on Tuesday afternoon.
“Violent gusts may affect Hong Kong,” the agency said, and urged people to stay indoors. Torrential rain and thunderstorms are forecast to last until Friday, the agency said.
Yan Zhuang is a Times reporter in Seoul who covers breaking news.
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