China raises alert level ahead of Typhoon Nida

BEIJING - China issued an "orange alert" for Typhoon Nida on Sunday, predicting the storm would hit the southern province of Guangdong on Tuesday, state news agency Xinhua reported.

The National Meteorological Center (NMC) raised the threat level to the second-most severe alert on a four-colour scale after issuing a yellow alert earlier in the day.

It warned of strong winds and heavy rain along the coast affecting Guangdong, Fujian and Hainan provinces as well as the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The storm is currently off the coast of the Philippines.

Typhoon Nida will be the fourth typhoon this year to hit China.

Nida is expected to pick up speed with winds forecasted to reach 38-45 meters per second by the time it makes landfall, according to the NMC.

Earlier this month, Typhoon Nepartak drove at least 420,000 Chinese from their homes and caused more than 7.1 billion yuan ($1.07 billion) in losses in Fujian province alone.