China upgrades warning as Typhoon Utor nears

BEIJING - A yellow wave warning for Typhoon Utor was raised to orange on Monday, according to the National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center.

Utor, the 11th typhoon to hit China this year, is expected to make landfall in South China's Guangdong province between Wednesday night and early Thursday morning.

The center warned that waves as high as 12 meters may appear in the northern part of the South China Sea when the typhoon makes landfall.

From Monday night to Tuesday, Utor is expected to create sea waves as high as 10 meters in the eastern and northern parts of the South China Sea. It is also expected to create waves ranging in height from 2 to 3.5 meters in the coastal areas of Guangdong. h   The center also forecast up to 80 cm of precipitation on Tuesday for coastal areas in Guangdong and Hainan provinces.

Ships in these areas should return to harbor in a timely fashion in order to avoid the waves, the center urged.

China uses a four-tier color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe weather, followed by orange, yellow and blue.