‘Worst’ typhoon slams China
• Storm powers into Guangdong after trail of death in Philippines
A supertyphoon made landfall in China’s Guangdong on Sunday, the country’s most populous province, after wreaking havoc in Hong Kong and Macau and killing potentially more than 50 people in the Philippines.
Packing winds of more than 200km/h, tropical cyclone Mangkhut is considered to be the strongest to hit the region in 2018, equivalent to a maximum category 5 “intense hurricane” in the Atlantic.
The eye of Mangkhut, the Thai name for Southeast Asia’s mangosteen fruit, skirted 100km south of Hong Kong, but the region 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 midmorning as ferocious winds uprooted trees and smashed windows of 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 3.5m in some places, waves swamped roads and washed up live fish into residential blocks and a mall in an eastern district.
“It’s the worst I’ve seen,” resident Martin Wong said. “I’ve not seen the roads flood like this, [and] the windows shake like this before.”
The plans of tens of thousands of travellers were disrupted by flight cancellations at Hong Kong’s international airport, a major regional hub. Airlines such as flagship carrier Cathay Pacific cancelled many flights last week.
In the Philippines casualties reported by various agencies on Sunday evening indicate that the death toll from the impact of Mangkhut could exceed 50, with most killed in landslides in or near mountainous areas of the Cordillera region.
Francis Tolentino, an adviser to President Rodrigo Duterte and head of the government’s disaster co-ordination, said the latest number of casualties is 33 dead and 56 missing.
But the head of the military’s Northern Luzon Command, Emmanuel Salamat, said that at least 19 more were killed in landslides in one part of Benguet province. The 19 who died were part of a bigger group of 43 people, probably mineworkers, and those still alive are feared trapped in an old mining bunkhouse that had collapsed, according to Tolentino.
Search and rescue missions were continuing, and a local mayor in Benguet, Victorio Palangdan, said he feared the number killed there could be more than 100.
Separately the coastguard said it had recovered the bodies of three people.
In Macau, which put China’s People’s Liberation Army 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 in 2017 after a typhoon that killed nine and caused severe damage.
The typhoon, dubbed the “King of Storms” by Chinese media, made landfall in Haiyan town at 5pm local time, packing winds of more than 160km/h, weather officials said.
Ports, oil refineries and industrial plants in the area have been shut. Power to some areas were also reduced as a precaution. In Shenzhen electricity supply to homes was cut at one point on Sunday.
The storm has fuelled concern about sugar production in Guangdong, which accounts for a tenth of national output, at about 1-million tons. China sugar futures rose last week on fears for the cane crop.
Guangdong is also China’s most populous province, with more than 100-million people. No deaths have been reported by Sunday night.
More than 2.45-million people have been relocated and more than 48,000 fishing boats called back to port in the province. Work at more than 29,000 construction sites has been suspended. State television showed scenes of crashing waves, inundated streets and trees half-bent by the strong winds as Mangkhut unleashed its power.
The Shenzhen airport, which has been shut since midnight, will be closed until 8am on Monday. Flights have also been cancelled in Guangzhou and the island of Hainan, China’s southern-most province.
High winds and swells hit Fujian province, north of Guangdong, shutting ports, suspending ferry services and cancelling more than 100 flights. Waves as high as 7.3m were sighted in the Taiwan Strait, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Travelling at 30km/h, Mangkhut will continue on its northwesterly track, bringing heavy rain and winds to the autonomous region of Guangxi early on Monday.
It is expected to weaken into a tropical depression when it reaches southwestern Yunnan province during the early hours of Tuesday.