The southern Chinese city of Sanya suspended all flights and neighbouring Haikou closed its port as Hainan Island braced for the arrival of Typhoon Bualoi on Sunday.
Bualoi, coming close on the heels of Super Typhoon Ragasa , was expected to skim the island and make landfall in Vietnam later in the day.
By 10am, the typhoon’s centre was about 160km (99 miles) from Sanya and most of Hainan Island was within the typhoon’s seventh-level wind zone of 50-61km/h (31-38mph), according to the China Meteorological Administration ,
By 5pm, the administration said the typhoon was moving towards Vietnam, with the centre of the storm about 230km east-southeast of the Vietnamese city of Ha Tinh. Its intensity was largely unchanged, it said.
An hour later, Sanya’s weather authorities said the typhoon was gradually moving away from the city but it would still have 40-80mm of rain over the following 12 hours. Residents were urged to continue to take precautions.
The administration issued a yellow typhoon and heavy rain warning, the third highest level in its four-tier alert system.