Topline
Typhoon Ragasa, the most powerful storm of the year so far, made landfall in southern China on Wednesday evening after causing a wave of destruction and killing more than a dozen people in Taiwan and remote parts of the Philippines.
Chinese state media reported the typhoon made landfall in China’s southern Guangdong province at around 5 p.m. local time.
The wind speed at the eye of the storm was around 90 mph (144km/h) at the time of landfall, down from around 120 mph when the storm passed near Hong Kong earlier in the day.
As a precautionary measure, Chinese authorities have evacuated around 1.9 million people residing in the path of the typhoon.
Earlier on Wednesday, heavy rains triggered by the storm in Taiwan's eastern Hualien County caused a barrier lake to overflow, triggering severe flooding that killed at least 15 people, while 17 others remained missing.
Despite not making landfall over Hong Kong, the powerful storm caused flooding, uprooted trees and left at least 82 people injured as it passed near the city.
According to Chinese state media, Ragasa is expected to weaken as it moves westward inland through Southern China gradually.
165 mph. That was the recorded maximum sustained wind speed of Ragasa recorded on Monday as it made landfall over the island of Panuitan in northern Philippines. This is the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane, making it the most powerful storm on earth so far this year.
According to FlightAware data, 158 out of the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in Guangdong have been canceled so far on Wednesday, along with 102 flight which were set to arrive at the airport. Hong Kong International Airport, one of Asia’s busiest, suspended all flights for 36 hours on Tuesday evening. After the storm moved past Hong Kong, authorities announced that flights from the airport will resume after midnight. The city’s flag carrier Cathay Pacific announced it will begin a phased resumption of its operations early on Thursday morning. FlightAware shows around 240 flights in and out of Hong Kong have been canceled so far on Wednesday.
