Sanya braces as ‘Kajiki’ looms

The southern Chinese city of Sanya, renowned for seafront resorts and sandy beaches, closed tourist attractions, shuttered businesses and suspended public transport yesterday as it braced for an intensifying Typhoon Kajiki.

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The tropical cyclone was about 200 kilometres southeast of Sanya on the island province of Hainan at 9am local time, packing maximum sustained wind of 38 metres a second near its centre, the National Meteorological Center said.

Kajiki is likely to strengthen as it moves northwest at approximately 20kmh, with a peak wind speed as fast as 48m/s, the state weather forecaster said.

The storm could make landfall along the southern coast of Hainan, or skirt the southern coastline before heading toward Vietnam in the west.