China maintains sea wave alert on tropical storm

The National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center on Wednesday continued to issue a blue alert on high waves whipped up by approaching tropical storm Mangkhut. Mangkhut, the tenth tropical storm to hit China this year, may make landfall or skim over the southwestern coastal areas of the island province of Hainan during the day on Wednesday, the center said. The center forecast that the western part of the South China Sea and the Beibu Gulf will see waves measuring 3 to 4 meters, and waves as high as 2 to 3.4 meters will also occur in waters off Hainan and Guangxi from Wednesday to noon Thursday. A blue warning was also maintained for storm tides in Hainan and Guangxi. China uses a four-tier color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe weather, followed by orange, yellow and blue.