The Central Meteorological Observatory lifted the typhoon blue warning on Chaba late yesterday, but over the weekend China’s first typhoon of the year bought heavy rain and wind to several southern provinces already water-logged from weeks of torrential rains and thunderstorms.

As of today, the centre of Chaba was located in the southern region of Guangxi. It is expected to move in a north-easterly direction at a speed of 10 to 15km per hour into Hunan and Hubei provinces, the China Meteorological Administration said.

From today to Wednesday, forecasters expect heavy rain and some strong winds in Guangdong province, the Guangxi region, and Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Henan, and Shandong provinces.

Strong rainfall is expected in North China and Northeast China, and other places through early next week.

Over this past weekend, more than two dozen crew on an engineering vessel with 30 people on board went missing after it snapped in two in waters off Hong Kong as Chaba passed through, authorities said.

In recent weeks, historic rainfall and flooding in southern China have destroyed property, paralysed traffic and disrupted the daily lives of millions.

Extreme weather including unusually heavy flooding is expected to continue in China through August, forecasters predicted last week.