Hong Kong/Shenzhen, China, September 25: Typhoon Ragasa, the world’s most powerful tropical cyclone this year, made landfall in southern China on Wednesday after killing 17 people in Taiwan and battering Hong Kong with fierce winds and heavy rain.
The storm struck the coastal city of Yangjiang in Guangdong province and was heading towards Maoming, one of China’s largest oil refining hubs, officials said. More than 2 million people have been evacuated across the province, with emergency authorities dispatching tents, beds and rescue supplies, state media reported.
In Taiwan, 17 people were still missing in Hualien county after torrential rains triggered the overflow of a barrier lake, sending a wall of water through a town. In Hong Kong, waves crashed over seawalls, flooding roads and properties. At least 90 people were injured, 885 sought refuge in temporary shelters, and casinos in neighbouring Macau shut their gaming halls.
China’s marine authority issued its highest red warning of the year for storm surges, forecasting waves up to 2.8 metres (9 feet) in Guangdong’s Pearl River Delta. The typhoon passed about 100 km (60 miles) south of Hong Kong before landfall, leaving parts of Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Foshan and Dongguan — home to around 50 million people — bracing for floods.
Ragasa intensified into a Category 5 super typhoon over the Western Pacific earlier this week with winds exceeding 260 kph (162 mph) before weakening slightly. The system still toppled trees and power lines and left coastal residents scrambling to protect storefronts with trucks and barricades.
“The weather experienced in Hong Kong this summer is only a taste of what is to come,” said Benjamin Horton, dean of the School of Energy and Environment at the City University of Hong Kong, citing climate change as a driver of stronger storms.
Authorities said they had drawn lessons from Typhoons Hato and Mangkhut, which caused billions of dollars in damage in 2017 and 2018, and that infrastructure resilience had improved. The Hong Kong stock market remained open despite the storm, a first during such severe weather.
