Typhoon Nari approaches S.China's Hainan Province

HAIKOU - South China's Hainan Province initiated an emergency response on Sunday morning as Typhoon Nari is expected to arrive near the Xisha Islands on Monday.

The center of Nari was located at 15.3 north latitude, 114.2 east longitude, 260 kilometers southeast from Hainan's Sansha City (Yongxing Island of Xisha Islands) at 11 a.m. Sunday,with winds of up to 137 km per hour. It moved westward at a speed of 15 km per hour, said the Hainan provincial meteorological station.

Around 27,000 fishing boats were called back to port by 9:00 am Sunday.

All fishermen from Yongle Islands, where the typhoon is forcasted to hit hard, were relocated to Jinqing Island.

The National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center has raised the emergency response to level two, predicting waves up to 10 meters in the South China Sea and between 2.5 and 3.5 meters off the east and south coasts of Hainan Province from Sunday noon to Monday noon.

A storm tide is also expected to sweep through the Leizhou Peninsular, Hainan Island and coasts of Beibu Gulf from Sunday afternoon to Thursday morning.