Taufan Soulik Diramal Beri Kemusnahan Besar Di China

Taufan Soulik dijangka memberi ancaman berat ke atas China dan Tawan selewat-lewatnya Sabtu ini. Ia dijangka mendarat sebagai taufan yang mampu memusnahkan unjuran laluannya yang diramalkan di Zhejiang dan Fujian yang berpenduduk padat itu.

West Pacific Hurricane & Tropical Storm Center

Soulik a Potentially Devastating Typhoon Threat to China, Taiwan

Strengthening Typhoon Soulik, the latest named western Pacific tropical cyclone, will hold typhoon status for along at least part or all of its path before a late-week approach to the Asian mainland.

Taiwan and east-central China will be at risk of damaging winds and flooding rain Friday and Saturday.

The provinces at risk in China will be Fujian and Zhejiang. The city of Shanghai is just north of Zhejiang. The result of a major hit on these provinces is potentially devastating, as this is one of the most populous regions of the world.

As early as Thursday, local time, high winds and heavy rains could lash the Japanese island of Okinawa.

Tuesday morning, local time, Soulik became a Typhoon, with highest sustained winds estimated to be 75 mph, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. Movement was toward the west-northwest at about 12 mph.

Intensification is likely over the next few days. The big question is whether it interacts with the mountainous terrain of Taiwan or not. If the center of the storm stays over water and to the north of Taiwan, it may be a Category 3 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale when it makes landfall in China. If it takes a more southerly route and makes landfall over Taiwan, it will not be able to get as strong but Taiwan will take a major hit.

Nearest approach and possible landfall in northern Taiwan would happen on or about Friday, whereas mainland China south of Shanghai could feel the storm's wrath on Saturday.

Beyond Saturday, Soulik could either track inland over China, or veer northward to Korea. The latter track could lead to heavy rain on the Korean Peninsula Saturday and Sunday, which would be very bad news for that area because of the heavy rain that this country has seen over the last week or so.