Typhoon Sarika Moving Over Hainan, China
By Drew Lerner
Kansas City, October 18 (World Weather Inc.) – Heavy rain and strong wind reached Hainan China Monday as Typhoon Sarika began moving inland. At 0300 GMT today (Tuesday) the storm was moving across the southern coast and will continue a west northwesterly track today before turning northwesterly Wednesday. The storm will produce additional heavy rain and strong wind throughout the island today while its center moves back over water briefly in the Gulf of Tonkin this afternoon and evening. The storm will finally reach the Vietnam/Guangxi, China, coast around 0600 GMT Wednesday. The 
storm will steadily weakening over the next 24 hours and will likely dissipate over northeastern Vietnam late Wednesday and Thursday.
At 0300 GMT, Typhoon Sarika was located near 217 miles northeast of Da Nang, Vietnam at 19.1 north, 110.4 east. The storm was moving west northwesterly at 11 mph and maximum sustained wind speeds near the center of the storm were reaching 80 mph. Tropical storm force wind (greater than 39 mph) was occurring out 135 miles from the storm center while typhoon force wind was occurring out 30 miles from the storm center.
Sarika will dominate Hainan weather today with generalized rainfall, strong wind and flooding. The storm will produce a total of 4.00 to 12.00 inches of rain, although about half of that had already occurred prior to this writing. Wind speeds will steadily decline and the typhoon will soon be reclassified as a tropical storm. The storm will move back over open water in the Gulf of Tonkin around 1200 GMT today and then move across the Vietnam coast around 0600 GMT Wednesday. Much of the storm’s intensity will be spent over Hainan and the impact on Vietnam and Guangxi, China is not expected to be nearly as great. With that said, rainfall will range from 3.00 to 9.00 inches over the common border region of the two nations. Some flooding is expected, but wind damage should be minimized by the steady weakening trend that will take place prior to landfall over the Vietnam coast.
Damage to rice and sugarcane may be most significant in Hainan, China. Only a small amount of damage is expected in Guangxi, China or Vietnam. Remnants of the storm will turn north and then to the northeast through a large part of east-central China Thursday into the weekend. Some moderate to locally heavy rain is expected, but the impact of the system on east-central China is not likely to be detrimental to very many areas. World Weather, Inc. believes the storm will bring relief to late summer dryness from Guangxi through Hunan and eastern Guizhou to Hubei and a few other provinces in east-central China. The drier biased area needs moisture to support winter wheat and rapeseed planting.
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