The Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) said in a statement yesterday that Super Typhoon “Saola” will move closer to the eastern part of Guangdong in the next two days, and is expected to strengthen later today, with showers and thunderstorms persisting over the next few days.
The observatory issued the Standby Signal No.1 at 4:30 p.m. yesterday.
According to the statement, “Saola” was about 620 km east-southeast of Macau at 11 p.m. yesterday. The bureau said that it expected the No. 1 signal to remain hoisted at least until noon today.
The weather station said it did not rule out the possibility of issuing a higher tropical cyclone-warning signal and a higher storm surge warning, both of which would be assessed in a timely manner, depending on the path and intensity of “Saola”.
The bureau forecast that flooding will occur in low-lying areas during the daytime on Saturday, adding that the chance of issuing a yellow storm surge warning was “medium to high”.
According to the SMG website, there is a “medium to relatively high” possibility of hoisting Typhoon Signal No.3 tomorrow afternoon or evening, while there was a “medium” possibility that Typhoon Signal No. 8 will be hoisted between midnight and early morning on Saturday.
SMG said if “Saola” takes a path closer to the Pearl River Estuary, the flooding situation would be “very significant”, forecasting that the tide may reach a maximum of about three metres in the next few days, while that if a storm surge was to happen, the tide level would rise further, which still depended on the possible interaction between “Saola” and Typhoon “Haikui”
This weather map provided by the Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) yesterday shows the possible route of Super Typhoon “Saola”.
