Super typhoon Usagi to hit S China

BEIJING - China's national observatory on Saturday issued the highest level of alert for super typhoon Usagi which was expected to bring gales and rainfall to the coastal areas and land in Guangdong province between September 22-23.

The National Meteorological Center (NMC) upgraded the warning to the red alert, the highest level, from the previous yellow-coded one issued on Friday afternoon.

The center of Usagi, one of the strongest typhoons to hit China this year, was at 195 kilometers southeast of Taiwan's Cape Eluanbi early at 7 a.m. on Saturday, and would continue to move northwestward at a speed of about 20 km per hour, the NMC said.

The center said Usagi would bring strong storm to east of Taiwan and the coastal areas of Guangdong, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces on Saturday and Sunday.

It also forecast that a cold front would sweep north China in the following three days. Temperatures in Gansu and Qinghai provinces as well as in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia autonomous regions could fall as much as 12 degrees Celsius in the next 24 hours.