China Issues Blue Alert For Typhoon Aere

Beijing: China's national observatory on Thursday issued a blue alert for typhoon Aere, the 19th to hit the country this year.

Aere was upgraded from a tropical depression to a typhoon at 8 am on Thursday, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) said in a statement.

The eye of the typhoon was currently above the South China Sea some 530 km to the southeast of Hong Kong.

It will move west at a speed of 15 km per hour, the centre said.

While issuing the blue alert, the lowest level of a four-tier warning system, the NMC said the typhoon will travel toward the coasts of Hainan and Guangdong provinces.