South China braces for Typhoon Kai-Tak

NANNING - Flights were canceled and alerts upgraded in south China on Friday morning, as Typhoon Kai-Tak was forecast to make landfall there around noon.

According to the latest updates from China's Central Meteorological Observatory, Kai-Tak was expected to make landfall in the coastal regions between Dianbai and Xuwen counties in southern province of Guangdong, packing a maximum wind speed of 35 meters per second in the center of the storm and bringing downpours.

A citizen rides against the heavy rain brought by Typhoon Kai-Tak in Haikou city, capital of South China's Hainan province, Aug 17, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

The approaching typhoon forced an airport in Beihai, a city in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, to cancel four flights linking Hong Kong and Kunming, capital of neighboring Yunnan Province.

Heavy rains lashed southern island province of Hainan. In the provincial capital of Haikou, there were reportedly few pedestrians spotted in the city, where slow-moving cars were seen clogging the rain-hit roads.

Meteorological observatories in cities and counties, including Haikou, Lingao and Wenchang, upgraded their alerts for the typhoon to orange, the second-highest alert on China's four-tiered color-coded alert system.

Hainan has suspended flight services between some of its cities and called all ships back to harbor.

Officials supervising flood control and drought relief efforts had previously said relief materials and rescue personnel were fully prepared to mitigate the impact of Kai-Tak.