A sanitation worker clears fallen leaves on a street in Nantong city, East China's Jiangsu Province, hit by Typhoon Muifa on September 15, 2022. Photo: IC

Multiple cities in East China's Jiangsu Province suspended school and training classes on Thursday as Typhoon Muifa moved into the province early Thursday morning after it made landfall twice in the neighboring Zhejiang Province and Shanghai on Wednesday night and pounded the coastal cities with strong gales and rainstorms. 

The strongest-ever tropical cyclone to hit the populous Yangtze River Delta in a decade moved into Jiangsu around 3 am on Thursday and is expected to spin across the eastern coastal regions in Jiangsu in its northerly track during the day. 

The tropical cyclone is expected to stay in Jiangsu for over 20 hours with the strongest gale and heaviest rainfalls seen between Wednesday night and Thursday. The Jiangsu Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters raised emergency response for typhoon to level II at 6 pm on Wednesday. 

China's National Meteorological Center (NMC) issued a yellow alert at 6 am on Thursday morning for Muifa which had arrived in Haimen in Jiangsu with the maximum winds near the center being 30 meters per second and the minimum pressure at the center being 980 HPA, downgraded to a strong tropical storm, around 5 am. 

It is expected that Muifa will move from south toward north through the coastal areas of Jiangsu and move into the southern waters of the Yellow Sea on Thursday evening and make landfall again in East China's Shandong Province on Thursday night. It is expected to move into Bohai Strait on Friday and gradually turn into an extratropical cyclone. 

In response to Muifa, Jiangsu relocated 62,561 people as of 7 pm on Wednesday. A total of 11,660 ships returned to harbor for shelter and 4,122 construction sites have suspended operation. 

In addition, multiple places in Jiangsu suspended classes on Thursday with cities such as Wuxi, Taizhou, Nantong and Yancheng suspending classes for kindergartens, primary and middle schools or training institutions. Schools in Suzhou city were allowed to flexibly adjust their school hours according to the weather conditions. 

Influenced by Muifa, provinces including Jiangsu, Shandong, Liaoning and Jilin will expect heavy rains or rainstorms from Thursday to Friday, with part areas such as the northeastern part of Jiangsu, Shandong Peninsula and the middle and eastern part of Liaoning expected to suffer heavy storms, according to the weather forecast by NMC. 

Affected by Muifa, transportation and classes were suspended and nearly 1.8 million people in Zhejiang and Shanghai were relocated on Wednesday, including 1.36 million in Zhejiang and 426,000 in Shanghai. 

Global Times