Typhoon Nida: China issues 'Orange Alert', storm expected to make landfall on Tuesday

China issued an “orange alert” for Typhoon Nida on Sunday, predicting the storm would hit the southern province of Guangdong on Tuesday, State news agency Xinhua reported. The National Meteorological Center (NMC) raised the threat level to the second-most severe alert on a four-colour scale after issuing a yellow alert earlier in the day. [caption id=“attachment_2926340” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Earlier this month, Typhoon Nepartak drove at least 420,000 Chinese from their homes. Reuters[/caption] It warned of strong winds and heavy rain along the coast affecting Guangdong, Fujian and Hainan provinces as well as the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The storm is currently off the coast of the Philippines, and weather reports indicate it will also hit the financial centre of Hong Kong. Typhoon Nida will be the fourth typhoon this year to hit China, where natural disasters have killed 800 people since June, the largest number of casualties since a similar period in 2011. Nida is expected to pick up speed with winds forecasted to reach 38-45 meters per second by the time it makes landfall, according to the NMC. Earlier this month, Typhoon Nepartak drove at least 420,000 Chinese from their homes and caused more than 7.1 billion yuan ($1.07 billion) in losses in Fujian province alone.