Typhoon Chanthu To Make Landfall in Flooded Southern China

Typhoon Chanthu is forecast to make landfall in southern China, bringing more wind and rain to a nation where flooding this year has been the worst in more than a decade.

Photo: Typhoon Chanthu To Make Landfall in Flooded Southern China

Flooding in China this year has killed more than 700 people, the most since 1998, spurring Premier Wen Jiabao to chair a meeting of the nation’s cabinet that called the situation "grave" and ordered local governments to step up rescue and relief efforts.

Wen traveled twice to southern China last month to inspect flood relief work, Bloomberg reports.

Typhoon Chanthu was upgraded from a tropical storm on Wednesday after gathering strength over the South China sea.

Five provinces are expected to be hit including Guangdong and the island of Hainan. Fears have been raised of a repeat of the 1998 Yangtze river floods in which 4,000 died, according to euronews.