One of this year’s most powerful storms slammed into the Chinese holiday island of Hainan on Friday, the strongest typhoon to make landfall there in ten years.
Packing maximum sustained wind speeds of 230 kilometres per hour (140 miles per hour), Typhoon Yagi is currently the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane — the world’s second-most powerful tropical cyclone of 2024 so far, only eclipsed by the Atlantic hurricane Beryl which was a Category 5, reports CNN.
Significant wind damage — including to trees, buildings and power lines — as well as flooding and extremely large waves along the coast are expected to hit Hainan and the southern province of Guangdong. The storm is expected to maintain its strength as it makes another landfall in northern Vietnam on Saturday evening, bringing between 10 to 20 inches of rain.
Scientists have found that hotter oceans caused by the human-caused climate crisis are leading storms to intensify more rapidly. Just two days ago, Yagi was a tropical storm with top winds of 90 kph (60 mph), but it rapidly gathered strength over the warm waters of the South China Sea. As it thundered towards Hainan, Yagi had been classified as super typhoon but it lost some strength before making landfall and was downgraded.
The approaching typhoon had already brought cities across Hainan to a standstill, with schools, businesses, restaurants and beaches closed and public transport, including trains and flights, halted. Some cities in the neighbouring provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi adopted similar measures.
On Chinese social media, Hainan residents shared footage of an intense storm churning across the island on Thursday evening, with streaks of lightning flashing across a purple night sky.
Videos released by local media show high waves crashing on the shore, battering rows of palm trees. Swells as high as 7 meters (about 23 feet) were expected near the coasts of Hainan and Guangdong from Friday afternoon, according to China’s marine forecasting authorities.
Hainan is often dubbed “China’s Hawaii,” boasting sandy beaches, good surf, five-star resorts and duty-free luxury shopping. It is not currently peak travel season, however, and the island generally has a good track record of weathering powerful storms.
Yagi is the strongest typhoon to make landfall on the island since Rammasun in 2014. That super typhoon — defined as having wind speed of above 240 kilometres per hour or 150 miles per hour — killed at least 62 people across Hainan, Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan provinces, causing more than 38 billion yuan ($5.3 billion) in direct economic losses.
This year, much of southern China has been battered by weeks of extreme rainfall. Deadly floods and landslides blocked highways, destroyed homes and caused devastating financial losses as they wiped out crops and livestock.
Most severe alert
China’s Central Meteorological Agency renewed its red typhoon warning, the most severe alert, on Friday morning for Hainan and Guangdong.
Yagi has already sparked some travel disruption across parts of southern China as authorities enacted storm warning systems to mitigate its impact ahead of arrival.
Intercity bus services have been suspended on Hainan since midnight Thursday, according to the provincial government. Train and high-speed rail services have been suspended since 6 p.m. Thursday while all flights have been cancelled until Friday midnight, it added.
More than 400,000 residents across Hainan, including fishing and construction workers, have been moved to safety and more than 34,000 fishing boats have returned to port to take shelter from the typhoon, state media reported.
Authorities in Hainan have ordered all tourist attractions to be shut down as they warned of “massive and destructive” winds.
Bracing for impact, people were seen taping windows and glass doors for additional reinforcement against the gusts. Some placed sandbags around door gaps to prevent flooding. Residents rushed to stock up on food and supplies, sparking long lines and empty shelves at supermarkets.
The outer bands of Yagi brought heavy rain and high winds to the southern Chinese city of Hong Kong overnight Thursday. Authorities raised the third-highest storm warning, a move that restricts some travel services and sparks school closures.
Multiple flights from Hong Kong have been cancelled and the city’s stock market, one of Asia’s largest, is currently suspended. That storm warning was lowered shortly after midday on Friday.
Known as Enteng in the Philippines, Yagi had brought heavy rainfall across the country earlier in the week. At least 13 people were killed, Reuters reported. In some parts of Luzon, rainfall totalling 400 millimeters (15.8 inches) was reported, and rain from the storms outer bands has continued to drench parts of the Philippines in recent days.
