Ragasa

Super Typhoon Ragasa, among the most powerful storms to strike Asia in recent years, has hurled waves higher than lampposts across Hong Kong’s promenades and churned coastal waters along southern China after leaving a trail of devastation in Taiwan and the Philippines.

The death toll in Taiwan reached 14 after floodwaters submerged roads and swept away vehicles, while 10 fatalities were confirmed in the northern Philippines.

In Guangdong province, China’s southern economic hub, more than two million residents were evacuated, according to state-run Xinhua news agency.

As Ragasa continues its westward trajectory, authorities suspended select train services in the Guangxi region on Thursday. Chinese officials have allocated tens of millions of dollars towards disaster relief efforts.

Initially, schools, factories and transportation services were suspended across approximately 12 cities, but some areas farther from the landfall site began preparations to resume operations as wind intensity diminished.

Before reaching China, Ragasa inflicted casualties and destruction in Taiwan and the Philippines as it tracked between the two territories.

In Taiwan, the death toll reached 14 after torrential rain caused a barrier lake in Hualien County to overflow on Tuesday, unleashing muddy floodwaters that destroyed a bridge and transformed Guangfu township roads into violent currents carrying away vehicles and furniture.

Of Guangfu’s approximately 8,450 residents, more than half were able to seek refuge on higher floors or elevated terrain.

Rescue teams established contact with more than 100 previously unreachable individuals in Hualien and conducted door-to-door checks on the remaining 17 residents. Across the self-ruled island, 32 people sustained injuries.

In the northern Philippines, at least 10 deaths were reported, including seven fishermen who drowned on Monday when massive waves and fierce winds capsized their boat off Santa Ana in northern Cagayan province. Five additional fishermen remain missing, according to provincial officials.

Nearly 700,000 people were affected by the catastrophic storm, with 25,000 seeking shelter in government emergency facilities.

China plans to evacuate close to 400,00 people from southern Shenzhen province as the typhoon makes landfall in the northern Philippines.

China has begun preparing to evacuate 400,000 people from the city of Shenzhen ahead of Typhoon Ragasa, which has barreled through northern Philippines with a wind speed of 215km/h (134mph).

Super Typhoon Ragasa made landfall on Monday in Calayan province in the Philippines at 3pm (07:00 GMT), Philippine forecasters reported. More than 8,200 people were evacuated to safety in Cagayan, while 1,220 fled to emergency shelters in Apayao province.

Tropical cyclones with sustained winds of 215km/h (134mph) or higher in the western Pacific are labelled “super typhoons”.

The Philippines’ weather agency warned that “there is a high risk of life-threatening storm surge with peak heights exceeding 3 metres (nearly 10 feet) within the next 24 hours over the low-lying or exposed coastal localities” of the northern provinces of Cagayan, Batanes, Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr suspended government work and schools in the capital and 29 provinces in the northern Luzon region.

Ragasa is the 14th weather disturbance to hit the Philippines this year, which comes as the country deals with anti-corruption protests linked to ghost flood-control projects.

The typhoon is forecast to move westwards and remain in the South China Sea until at least Wednesday while passing south of Taiwan and Hong Kong before hitting the Chinese mainland.

Land and sea warnings

Chinese authorities have activated flood control measures in southern provinces and warned of heavy rainfall beginning from Tuesday night.

In China’s Shenzhen, authorities said on Sunday night that they planned to move hundreds of thousands of people from coastal and low-lying areas before the typhoon reaches them.

Other cities in the Guangdong province announced the cancellation of classes, work and public transportation due to the heavy rainfall and strong winds.

Moreover, Taiwan has issued land and sea warnings, cancelled 146 domestic flights, and evacuated more than 900 people from mountainous southern and eastern areas.

Vietnam’s Defence Ministry ordered its forces to monitor the storm and prepare for possible landfall later this week.

Sept. 22 (UPI) — The Philippines was bracing for “catastrophic” damage Monday from a supertyphoon that came ashore in the far north of the country, packing winds of more than 140 mph., and forcing the evacuation of thousands of people.

The country’s weather bureau said typhoon Ragasa posed a “high risk of life-threatening storm surge” in excess of 10 feet with authorities warning of extensive damage to property and infrastructure from flooding and landslides, as well as the wind.

Ragasa came ashore in the remote Batanes or Babuyan islands, about 60 miles off the northern coast of Luzon, the main island of the Philippine archipelago, bringing down power lines in Abra and Cagayan pronvinces on the mainland.

In Manila and across large areas of the country, schools and government offices were shut to reduce the risks to human health and safety from the supertyphoon, which is the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane.

The impact in regions as far away as the Visayas and Mindanao, 800 miles to the south, was due to it boosting the effect of a potent southwest monsoon that had already brought weeks of flooding to the central and southern Philippines.

Taiwan was also impacted, with heavy rains prompting authorities to evacuate hundreds of residents in Hualien, a county on the eastern coast.

The typhoon was expected to track northwestwards, bypassing Taiwan, headed for southern China, where authorities in Guangdong Province were warning of a “catastrophic, large-scale disaster” in the coming days.

The typhoon is not expected to come ashore from the South China Sea until Wednesday, but residents have been advised of heavy rains and strong winds as early as Tuesday with the city of Shenzhen planning a massive operation to move 400,000 people out of harm’s way.

Train services in the province have already halted operations.

To the south in Hong Kong, authorities were warning residents of a “rapid deterioration” of the weather on Tuesday, although the Education Department was still weighing a decision on whether to close schools.

Hong Kong International Airport was preparing for a 36-hour period of full flight cancellations, the longest ever such suspension of civil aviation, due to go into effect at 6 p.m. local time on Tuesday through 6 a.m. Thursday.

Cathay Pacific, the territory’s main carrier, said it expected to cancel about 500 flights while Hongkong Airlines cancelled at least 93 through Thursday, according to the carrier’s website.