Super Typhoon Yagi: Rains lash China ahead of landfall

Heavy rainfall and powerful winds from Super Typhoon Yagi slammed southern China on Friday, even as the strongest storm to hit the region in a decade was yet to make landfall.

Packing maximum sustained winds of 245 kilometers per hour (152 miles per hour) near its eye, Yagi is the world's second-most powerful tropical cyclone in 2024 so far.

The most powerful was the Category 5 Atlantic hurricane Beryl which swept through the Carribean islands, Mexico, parts of US and eastern Canada.

Yagi gains strength

Yagi's strength has more than doubled since it devastated the Philippines last week with landslides and flooding triggered by heavy rainfall. At least 13 people died.

The typhoon is now expected to make landfall along China's southern coast from Wenchang on the island of Hainan to Leizhou in Guangdong province on Friday afternoon.

After China, the storm is likely to head for Vietnam on Saturday.

Tropical cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons are the same phenomenon where a storm gathers strength from warm water at the ocean's surface to feed horizontal rotating winds.

They are called hurricanes over the Atlantic and East Pacific, typhoons in the West Pacific and cyclones in the Indian Ocean and near Australia, according to the website of the US space agency NASA.

These storms are becoming stronger and less predictable across the world, fueled by warmer oceans due to climate change, scientists have warned. 

Preparing for the super typhoon

Authorities in Hong Kong, Vietnamand southern Chinese provinces suspended flights, trains and boats, and closed schools and offices, in preparation for the storm.

Vietnam's Civil Aviation Authority said four airports in the country's north, including Hanoi's Noi Ban International, would remain closed on Saturday.

The country urged around 2,200 tourists on coastal islands to return to the mainland on Thursday, and mobilized more than 2,700 military personnel to help with typhoon preparation.

Several flights were canceled in southern China's Hainan, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau regions with other transport links shut down as well. China's government sent task forces to Guangdong and Hainan to guide flood prevention, official news agency Xinhua reported. 

In Hong Kong, which is China's financial hub, the stock exchange and bank services were closed on Friday. 

The city's weather authority issued a typhoon 8 signal, the third-highest warning, for Yagi. That was expected to lowered on Friday afternoon as the storm moves away.

However, intense rainfall will likely continue, authorities warned, asking residents to stay away from the shoreline.

mk/nm (AFP, Reuters)