Mekkhala unloads heavy rain across eastern China after making landfall

Only a week after Typhoon Hagupit's damaging strike on eastern China, yet another tropical system targeted the country this week.

On Sunday night, local time, a tropical depression emerged in the South China Sea, just west of the island of Luzon in the northern Philippines. The tropical system eventually strengthened into a tropical storm, and was given the name Mekkhala by the Japan Meteorological Agency.

This same tropical storm is also referred to as Ferdie in the Philippines.

This image shows Mekkhala to the west of Taiwan as it approaches eastern China on Monday night, local time. (Image/NOAA)

Mekkhala moved northward on Monday and made landfall near in Zhangpu County, located just south of the city of Xiamen in the province of Fujian on Tuesday morning.

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Rainfall totals of 25-75 mm (1-3 inches) were reported as Mekkhala raced inland through Tuesday night. This amount of rainfall can lead to areas of flooding and even mudslides, especially in the mountains.

As Mekkhala moved inland, a wind gust of 119 km/h (74 mph) was reported near the storms center. Winds of this magnitude knocked over trees and power lines in Zhangpu County.

Impacts were not limited to just China either. Heavy rainfall in Taiwan will continued throughout Tuesday, threatening much of the island with heavy, flooding rainfall as well as mudslides.

Mekkhala was designated a tropical depression on Tuesday night, and AccuWeather meteorologists expect Mekkhala to fall apart by Wednesday as it moves over the mountainous terrain of eastern China. Still, locally heavy rain could be a threat through early Wednesday as far north as the southern half of the Zhejiang Province.

Hagupit doused some of the same areas with tropical rainfall last week.

Hagupit forced over 200,000 residents in China to evacuate prior to the storm's arrival. The potent storm created wave heights of 4.2 m (13.8 feet) as it made landfall.

Rui'an reported 212 mm (8.33 inches) of rainfall, while 195 mm (7.68 inches) fell in Xianju from Hagupit.

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