China's National Meteorological Center on Saturday continued to issue a blue alert for Talim, the region's 18th typhoon this year.China has a four-tier color-coded system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue.
At 5 pm Saturday, the eye of Talim was above the northwestern Pacific Ocean, 540 km east of Xiangshan in east Zhejiang Province, packing winds up to 35 meters per second.
The NMC forecast that Talim would move northeastward at a speed of 20 km per hour to Japan.
It said that Talim would weaken when landing in west coast of Japan between Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Japan’s Meteorological Agency says the typhoon was moving east-northeast at a speed of 25 kilometers per hour in waters west of Yakushima Island off Kyushu as of 4 AM on Sunday.
It was packing winds of up to 126 kilometers per hour at its center. As the storm approaches, rain in southern Kyushu is intensifying.
In a one hour period, 51 millimeters of rain was recorded in Misato town, Miyazaki Prefecture.
Combined with a seasonal front, the typhoon will bring heavy rain to western and eastern Japan on Sunday. Hourly rainfall of more than 80 millimeters may hit some locations.
From Saturday evening to Sunday evening, Talim will bring gales and rainstorms to coastal regions of Jiangsu, Shanghai and Zhejiang.
The NMC suggested local governments take precautions against possible disasters, and ships in affected areas return to port.
Affected by Talim, more than 200,000 people in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces have been evacuated as of Wednesday.
