Southern China Battered By Strongest Typhoon In Decades
Southern China’s famous island, Hainan, has been hit by one of the strongest typhoons, Yagi, in decades. The typhoon hit the island on Friday at 16:00 local time.
The area was hit by catastrophic winds at a speed of 223 km/h (138 mph) along with heavy rainfall entering Wenchang city, located on the northeast side of Hainan island.
(Also read: Scientists Warn The World Is Heading Towards Its Hottest Year In History)
Yagi, to date, is the strongest typhoon to have hit southern China since Rammasun in 2014. The previous typhoon took the lives of 46 people back then. The weather agency of China said it is the most powerful one, making landfall in autumn. The rainfalls may reach up to 500mm, they notified.
More than 40,000 people were indicated for the evacuation from Hainan island before Yagi’s arrival. The schedules for trains, boats and flights were suspended and schools were shut down for the same purpose.
Yagi has doubled in strength after causing destruction in the Philippines. It is the strongest typhoon this year, weather experts confirmed.
Meteorologists explained that Yagi may prove to be “catastrophic” to not only Hainan but other neighbouring regions like Guangdong. It is the most populous province of China.
On Thursday, the Indo-Pacific Tropical Cyclone Warning Center already indicated the upcoming tragedy by declaring that Yagi is an “extremely dangerous and powerful” typhoon that can wreak havoc on a “potentially catastrophic” landfall.
The experts explained that a super typhoon is equivalent to category 5 of a hurricane. During such high risks, the tourist attractions in southern China have been closed since Wednesday after the authorities generated warnings.
Southern China, the Chinese “Hawaii”, under great threat
Hainan has become China’s “Hawaii” with an increasing number of white sand beaches, luxury hotels for visitors and duty-free shops for travellers. However, sadly, the world’s longest sea-crossing that connects Hong Kong with Macau and Zhuhai has been closed as well.
Strong gales and heavy rainfall had already started since Thursday, which created a warning of the upcoming dreadful storm.
Previously, great alerts have been initiated for the island as it remains vulnerable to typhoons and storms. Hainan experienced nine out of 106 typhoons that were classified as ‘super typhoons’ by the news agencies.
The weather experts predicted that Yagi would not stop here. It is expected to move on to Vietnam and the risk of landfall in the region persist late on Saturday.
By the end of Friday, thousands of provinces of Hai Phong and Thai Binh would be evacuated as the local authorities affirmed it was the strongest form of hurricane ever recorded in a decade.
News coming from Vietnamese media told that 460,000 military officers are mobilised for the safety of the state. The deputy agriculture minister has warned about the destruction the storm would cause despite agriculture being a “crucial part of socio-economic development”.
Vietnam’s civil aviation authority confirmed the closure of Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport along with other four airports located in the country’s north on Saturday.
Alert messages have been sent on Vietnam’s online app, Zalo, indicating people ahead of the calamity’s arrival. The message detailed vigilance and readiness from people’s side and asked them to relocate to safer places.
When Yagi hit the Philippines earlier this week, it came with floods and landslides, in anticipation of which thousands of people were evacuated to safer grounds. 13 people were killed.
Scientists have evidence that climate change has caused typhoons and hurricanes to become stronger with time. They have become more frequent as warmer ocean waters tend to pick up more energy, instigating higher wind speeds.
