China renews blue alert for Typhoon Talas

China's national observatory on Sunday renewed a blue alert for typhoon Talas, which is expected to hit Hainan Province and the Beibu Gulf.

At 10 a.m. Sunday, the eye of Talas, this year's fourth typhoon, was above the South China Sea some 60 km to the southwest of Sanya City, packing winds of up to 23 meters per second, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) said in a statement.

The NMC forecast that Talas would move northwestward at a speed of about 20 km per hour toward the Beibu Gulf and make landfall on the northeast coast of Vietnam on Monday morning.

But the center expected the typhoon to weaken and disappear quickly after making landfall.

From Sunday afternoon to Monday afternoon, parts of the South China Sea, Beibu Gulf, Qiongzhou Strait, Hainan and coastal areas of Guangdong and Guangxi will experience strong winds, while storms with up to 140 mm of precipitation are expected to affect parts of Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan.

The NMC suggested local governments take precautions against possible geological disasters, and ships in affected areas should go back to ports.

Along the coast of Guangdong, 22,901 fishing boats were moored while 39,425 people working at sea farms had returned to shore as of 4 p.m. Saturday.

Passenger ships across the Qiongzhou Strait, between Hainan and Guangdong, were also halted.

China has a four-tier color-coded system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue.