A powerful typhoon made two landfalls in southern China on Friday after moving south of Hong Kong, causing widespread disruptions and forcing approximately one million people in the country’s south to evacuate their homes.
The meteorological service in Hainan province reported that Typhoon Yagi, which earlier boasted winds of up to about 245 kph (152 mph) near its center, struck the tropical vacation island’s Wenchang city around 4:20 p.m.
According to China’s national meteorological authorities, Yagi was the strongest autumn typhoon to hit China. It made a second landfall in Xuwen County in the neighboring Guangdong province on Friday night.
In preparation for the storm, nearly 420,000 residents were relocated in Hainan, and over half a million people in Guangdong were also moved, according to state media.
The storm caused heavy rainfall across most of Hainan, leading to power outages in some areas. Strong winds battered the province’s famous coconut trees.
Residents constructed sandbag barriers around buildings to prevent flooding and reinforced windows with tape, as reported by China’s official Xinhua news agency.
State media indicated that classes, work, transportation, and business operations had been suspended in parts of the province as early as Wednesday evening. Some tourist attractions closed, and all flights at three airports on the island were expected to be canceled on Friday.
Typhoon Yagi (Photo: NOAA)
State broadcaster CCTV reported that Qinzhou city in the Guangxi region issued a top emergency response alert in anticipation of the typhoon.
Yagi is expected to make another landfall between Fangchenggang city in Guangxi and the northern coastal area of Vietnam on Saturday afternoon. Local media stated that Beihai city suspended work, classes, businesses, and transportation on Friday.
In Hong Kong, trading on the stock market, bank services, and schools were halted earlier on Friday after the city’s weather authority raised a No. 8 typhoon signal for Yagi, the third-highest warning level in the city’s weather system.
The typhoon prompted more than 270 people to seek refuge in temporary government shelters and resulted in the cancellation of over 100 flights. Nine people were injured and treated in hospitals. Heavy rain and strong winds caused numerous trees to fall.
Yagi was a tropical storm when it emerged from the northwestern Philippines into the South China Sea on Wednesday.
It resulted in at least 16 deaths and 17 people missing, primarily due to landslides and widespread flooding, affecting more than 2 million people in northern and central provinces.
Over 47,600 people were displaced from their homes in the Philippines, and classes, work, inter-island ferry services, and domestic flights were disrupted for several days, including in the densely populated capital region, metropolitan Manila.
