China Readies for Typhoon Kalmaegi

Emergency measures were readied in China Friday ahead of Typhoon Kalmaegi, which was expected to land along the eastern Zhejiang and Fujian provinces.

Kalmaegi, spawned in the Pacific Ocean and coming through northeast Taiwan, was upgraded to typhoon level Thursday morning. It is the seventh tropical storm this year.

Kalmaegi was moving northwest from Taiwan’s Hualien County Friday with 68 mph winds.

China’s state flood control agency has instituted a level-three flood control emergency response mechanism to cope with the storm, the state-run Xinhua news agency said. Departments dealing weather forecasting, water resources and transportation were ordered to monitor the situation closely to provide advance information to the public.

Ships and boats were advised to return to ports.

Forecasters predicted severe storms and heavy rains could hit coastal cities in the provinces in the next two days. Shanghai, China’s largest metropolitan city, is in the path of Kalmaegi.