China's National Meteorological Center (NMC) on Sunday renewed a blue alert for typhoon Bavi, which is expected to lash the country's south and southeast regions.
Beijing:
The typhoon, the eighth of this year, strengthened from a tropical depression on Saturday morning and was observed at waters 390 km west of the city of Naha in Japan's Okinawa prefecture at 5 a.m. on Sunday, with a maximum wind force of 100.8 km/h at the centre, Xinhua news agency quoted the NMC as saying.
It expects the typhoon to move northeastward at a speed of 10-15 km per hour as it strengthens, before heading towards northeast China's Liaodong Peninsula from Wednesday.
From Sunday to Monday morning, gales are expected to hit some coastal areas of provinces and regions including Taiwan, Fujian and Zhejiang, according to the NMC.
It has advised people and vessels in disaster-prone areas to take shelter from winds.
China has a four-tier colour-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe weather, followed by orange, yellow and blue.