GUANGZHOU/HAIKOU, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Wipha, the seventh typhoon this year, made a second landfall in southern China's Guangdong Province Thursday evening after landing in the island province of Hainan on the same day.
Wipha landed in the city of Zhanjiang at about 5:40 p.m., packing winds of 83 km an hour near its center, according to the Guangdong provincial meteorological bureau.
The typhoon made landfall at around 1:50 a.m. in the city of Wenchang, Hainan, grounding flights and trains with strong winds and heavy rains. It is expected to track northwest and enter the southern parts of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region or the northern Beibu Gulf Thursday night.
Hainan has seen heavy rains from Tuesday evening, with maximum rainfall of 276.1 mm within 24 hours in Haikou, the provincial capital, the Hainan provincial meteorological bureau said.
No casualties have been reported yet.
The gales and heavy rains have disrupted local traffic. Haikou Meilan International Airport has cancelled 50 flights and the airport in the city of Sanya has cancelled six flights Thursday.
All ferry services in the Qiongzhou Strait, which separates Hainan Island from Guangdong Province, and high-speed rail services circling the island have been ordered to be suspended, while more than 100 bus routes in Haikou have stopped operation as of 10 a.m. Thursday.
