Typhoon Koinu turns south off China's coast, headed for Hainan

BEIJING - Typhoon Koinu, which lashed Taiwan with rains and winds last week, on Sunday (Oct 8) turned south over the seas off the coast of China's Guangdong province towards the Chinese resort island of Hainan, with its intensity nearly unchanged from a day earlier.

As of 10 am (10 am Singapore time), Koinu had yet to make landfall on the Chinese coast, maintaining its strength over water about 455 km (283 miles) northeast of the city of Zhanjiang in Guangdong, according to Chinese weather forecasters.

Koinu, still packing gale-force winds of up to 144 kph (89.5 mph), is expected to slowly churn south along the coast of Guangdong at a pace of five to 10 kph, weakening gradually as the typhoon reaches Zhanjiang and the southern island province of Hainan.

Last week, Koinu, which means "puppy" in Japanese, killed one person and injured almost 400 people in Taiwan as it brushed past the south of the island.

Chinese authorities remained on high alert even though Koinu looked unlikely to travel inland towards populous Chinese cities.

The slow movement of the typhoon over the warm waters of southern China raises the potential for very heavy rainfall as storm clouds linger over the area for a relatively long time.

ALSO READ: Heavy rainstorms to hit southern China after Typhoon Koinu batters Taiwan