Super typhoon slams into China
At least 60 killed in the Philippines
HONG KONG/MANILA (Reuters) – A super typhoon made landfall on Sunday in China’s Guangdong, the country’s most populous province, after wreaking havoc in Hong Kong and Macau and killing more than 60 people in the Philippines.
Packing winds of more than 200 kph (125 mph), tropical cyclone Mangkhut is considered the strongest to hit the region this year, equivalent to a maximum Category 5 “intense hurricane” in the Atlantic.
That’s more powerful than the maximum sustained winds of 150 kph (90 mph) when Hurricane Florence roared into North Carolina on Friday.
The eye of Mangkhut, the Thai name for Southeast Asia’s mangosteen fruit, skirted 100 km. (62 miles) south of Hong Kong, but the former British colony was still caught in the typhoon’s swirling bands of rain and gale-force winds.
Hong Kong raised its highest No. 10 typhoon signal at mid-morning as ferocious winds uprooted trees and smashed windows in office and residential buildings, some of which swayed in the gusts, residents said.
“It swayed for quite a long time, at least two hours. It made me feel so dizzy,” said Elaine Wong, who lives in a high-rise tower in Kowloon.
Water levels surged 3.5 meters in some places; waves swamped roads and washed up live fish, pouring into some residential blocks and a mall in an eastern district.
“It’s the worst I’ve seen,” resident Martin Wong told Reuters. “I’ve not seen the roads flood like this (and) the windows shake like this before.”
The plans of tens of thousands of travelers were disrupted by flight cancellations at Hong Kong’s international airport, a major regional hub. Airlines such as flagship carrier Cathay Pacific canceled many flights last week.
In the Philippines, various agencies have reported at least 60 casualties as of Sunday evening, with most killed in landslides in or near mountainous areas of the Cordillera region.
The head of the military’s Northern Luzon Command, Emmanuel Salamat, told Reuters that at least 19 more were killed in landslides in one part of Benguet Province. They were part of a bigger group of 43 people, likely miners; those still alive were feared to be trapped in an old mining bunkhouse that had collapsed under rubble, according to Francis Tolentino, an advisor to President Rodrigo Duterte and head disaster coordination for the government.
Search and rescue missions were ongoing. Victorio Palangdan, a mayor in Benguet, said he feared the number killed there could be more than 100.
Separately, the coast guard said it had recovered the bodies of three people.
In Macau – which halted casino gambling late on Saturday and put the People’s Liberation Army of China on standby for disaster relief help – some streets were flooded.
“The suspension is for the safety of casino employees, visitors to the city and residents,” said authorities in the world’s largest gambling hub, who faced criticism last year after a typhoon killed nine and caused severe damage.
KING OF STORMS
The typhoon, dubbed the “King of Storms” by Chinese media, made landfall in Haiyan Town at 5 p.m. local time, packing winds of more than 160 kph (100 mph), weather officials said.
Ports, oil refineries and industrial plants in the area have been shut down; power to some areas was also reduced as a precaution. In Shenzhen, electricity supply to more than 130,000 homes was cut at one point on Sunday.
The storm has fueled concern about sugar production in Guangdong, which accounts for a tenth of national output at about a million tons. China sugar futures rose last week on fears for the cane crop.
Guangdong is also China’s most populous province, with a population of more than 100 million. No deaths have been reported so far.
More than 2.45 million people have been relocated and over 48,000 fishing boats called back to port in the province. Work at more than 29,000 construction sites has been suspended.