China issues 'red alert' as super typhoon Lekima approaches

The center of Lekima, the ninth typhoon of the year, was about 290 km southeast of the city of Wenling in Zhejiang, with a maximum wind force of 209 km per hour.

Beijing: China on Friday issued a red alert for typhoon Lekima, as it was expected to make landfall in the coastal areas of Zhejiang province on Saturday.

At 8 a.m., the center of Lekima, the ninth typhoon of the year, was about 290 km southeast of the city of Wenling in Zhejiang, with a maximum wind force of 209 km per hour, media reported.

The typhoon will move northwest at a speed of about 13 km per hour, with gradually weakening force, the National Meteorological Centre said.

At 8 a.m. on Friday, Zhejiang renewed its emergency response to level II, the second-highest.

The province has suspended ferry rides in Beiji island, a tourist attraction to the east of the coast, and evacuated over 200 tourists there.

From Friday to Saturday, Lekima is expected to bring heavy rain in the provinces of Anhui, Fujian, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, and the municipality of Shanghai.