Authorities in Shanghai and parts of China’s eastern coastline are on high alert as a powerful tropical storm approaches, following the cancellation of a tsunami yellow alert earlier on Wednesday. The alert was initially issued after a major earthquake struck Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula.
According to officials, the tropical storm is forecast to make landfall by Wednesday evening. The China Tsunami Warning Centre, under the Ministry of Natural Resources, had issued the yellow alert earlier in the morning, cautioning that wave heights along Shanghai’s coast could reach up to 100 cm (40 inches). However, the alert was later lifted in the early afternoon.
Meanwhile, Typhoon Co-May—the season’s eighth typhoon—is expected to bring severe winds and heavy rainfall to the region around 6 p.m., as reported by Zhejiang Province’s Department of Water Resources. Although the storm has since weakened into a tropical storm, it continues to produce intense precipitation.
The tsunami alert was triggered by an 8.8-magnitude earthquake that hit Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:24 a.m. Beijing time, with a depth of 20 km (12.4 miles). Shortly after the quake, tsunami waves measuring up to 30 cm were observed on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido.
The alert had been issued for Shanghai’s coastline and Zhoushan in Zhejiang Province, where Typhoon Co-May made landfall earlier in the day. The typhoon struck around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, with maximum sustained winds of 83 km/h (52 mph) near its center. It has since been downgraded but remains a significant weather threat.
Forecasters predict the severe tropical storm will move inland by 7 p.m., though its exact path has fluctuated throughout the day.
