Typhoon Ragasa latest news: In Taiwan, 17 people died on Wednesday after floods submerged roads and carried away vehicles in one county, and 10 deaths were reported in the northern Philippines.
Typhoon Ragasa has left a trail of devastation after making landfall in China on Wednesday. The typhoon whipped waves taller than lampposts onto Hong Kong promenades and turned seas rough on the southern Chinese coast after leaving deadly destruction in Taiwan and the Philippines. In Taiwan, 17 people died on Wednesday after floods submerged roads and carried away vehicles in one county, and 10 deaths were reported in the northern Philippines.
More than 2 million people evacuated in China
More than 2 million people were relocated across Guangdong province, the southern Chinese economic powerhouse, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency said.
A weather station in Chuandao town recorded maximum gusts of 241 kph (about 150 mph) at noon, a high in Jiangmen city since record-keeping began.
Meanwhile, the state broadcaster CCTV said the typhoon made landfall along the coast of Hailing Island in Yangjiang city at about 5 pm, packing maximum winds near the center of 144 kph (89 mph).
Violent winds batter trees and buildings
Violent winds battered trees and buildings, with torrential rain lowering visibility, video from Xinhua showed. The typhoon is predicted to keep moving west, prompting the suspension of some train services in the Gunagxi region on Thursday. Chinese officials allocated tens of millions of dollars for relief efforts.
Schools, factories and transportation services were initially suspended in about a dozen cities, but a few of them distant from the landfall location were preparing to resume work as winds weakened.
Ragasa is the 18thย typhoon to hit China
Stated to be the most powerful storm to hit the Chinese coast, Ragasa is the 18thย typhoonย of the year, official media here reported. In eastern Taiwanโs Hualien County, 17 people died and 32 were injured after the barrier lake burst on Tuesday, triggered by the typhoon, local authorities said.
Seventeen people are still missing, Chinaโs state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Most of the victims, mainly elderly residents, were found in Guangfu Township in Hualien.
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Typhoon Ragasa, with maximum wind force near its centre reaching 40 metres per second, churned ashore at Hailing Island in the city of Yangjiang in Guangdong on Wednesday morning, according to the provincial meteorological observatory.
In Yangjiang City, the landing site of Typhoon Ragasa, 1,038 shelters across the city have been fully opened to the public.
But major cities in the southern province of Guangdong appeared to have escaped largely intactย with no casualties reported as of Wednesday afternoon, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.
The city of Shenzhen reported wind speeds of around 200km/h – higher than the Super Typhoon Mangkhut of 2018 โ but as the storm moved west across the province later in the day, these slackened to around 145km/h as it made landfall near Yangjiang, where some residents reported that power and water supplies had been cut off.
(With inputs from agencies)ย ย
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