Tropical Storm Mawar threatens to bring yet another round of flooding rain and damaging winds to southeastern China this weekend.
Mawar should remain a moderate tropical storm before to reaching southeastern China on Sunday, local time.
Landfall is expected from near Shanwei, between Hong Kong and Shantou. While Mawar may strengthen some before making landfall, it is not to reach Typhoon strength before landfall.
The compact nature of Mawar should limit its most severe impacts to a small fraction of southeastern China. However, hazards still exist to lives and property in Guangdong and neighboring Fujian province, as well as the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and to a lesser degree Macao.
Occasional downpours and gusty winds starting the weekend will be replaced by increasing rain and wind along the coasts of eastern Guangdong and southern Fujian into Sunday.
Soaking rain will also spread over parts of Taiwan during this time, leading to localized flash flooding.
“Given that this region has seen impacts from two tropical systems [Hato and Pakhar] in as many weeks, a third cyclone could more easily bring flooding and wind damage,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Adam Douty said.
The storm is expected to whip up wind gusts of 80-115 km/h (50-70 mph) along the coast as it moves onshore. Near and east of where the storm makes landfall will also be subject to storm surge flooding.
Residents of the region, should prepare for power outages and tree damage. Be sure to secure loose lawn items as they can easily get blown around and damaged. Weak structures may also incur some damage.
With the ground already saturated from Hato and Pakhar, trees may be more susceptible to being downed by gusty winds.
A total of 125-250 mm (5-10 inches) of rain in about as many hours may inundate a swath of the Guangdong coastline.
Flood-prone areas should anticipate rapidly rising water and possible evacuations as the ground cannot handle much more rain and already swollen rivers and streams overflow their banks. Mudslides may also get triggered.
Travel is expected to be disrupted as the flooding rain threatens to close some roads and lead to flight delays and cancellations.
The heaviest rain and strongest winds will focus on coastal central Guangdong on Sunday before the rain spreads to inland areas late Sunday night into Monday.
“Due to the projected landfall of Mawar being in central Guangdong, the worst impacts of damaging winds are expected to stay just east of Hong Kong,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Evan Duffey said.
“The city will still see a flood threat, with around 75 mm (3 inches) of rain expected. Some wind damage is possible with gusts up to 80 km/h (50 mph) on Sunday and into Monday morning.”
Due to the recent soaking rain from Hato and Pakhar, any significant rainfall can renew flash flooding or trigger more mudslides in and around the city.
Rain and wind across southeastern Guangdong is expected to wind down on Monday as Mawar presses farther inland, weakening to a tropical rainstorm.
However, flooding rain may still start the new week soaking far interior Guangdong along with southern Jiangxi and southern Hunan.
The heavy rain is expected to gradually lessen and become more scattered in nature by Tuesday from Jiangxi to Zhejiang and Fujian. Any flooding issues by this time would be isolated in nature.
