Typhoon Saola makes landfall in southern China, killing at least 1

Second storm, Haikui, to hit nation Sunday

Typhoon Saola made landfall in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong early Saturday, killing at least one person and bringing strong winds, heavy rain, and record storm surge to the region, including to Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Macao, according to China’s staterun news media.

As Saola was approaching the region Friday with winds equivalent to those of a Category 4 hurricane, Hong Kong closed its stock market and schools, halted most public transportation, and canceled hundreds of flights, authorities said. Seas rose by up to 13 feet above normal tide levels, forecasters at the Hong Kong Observatory said.

Saola’s maximum sustained winds had weakened to 69 mph in the latest update from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, a meteorological service operated by the US Navy. Forecasters said they expected Saola to continue moving westward, grazing China’s southern coast, and weaken to a tropical storm.

More than 100 flights in the region remained grounded, some public transportation was suspended, and schools postponed the start of the new semester, state-run news media said Saturday.

Authorities reported that 75 people in Hong Kong had been hospitalized with injuries during the storm and that more than 500 others had sought refuge in temporary shelters.

On Friday, the typhoon caused a tree to fall on a car in Shenzhen, a coastal megacity in the province of Guangdong, killing the driver and injuring two women, according to state-run news media.

In Guangdong, hundreds of thousands of people had been evacuated from “risky areas,” according to state-run media. All trains in and out of Guangdong were scheduled to stop running until Saturday evening. Public transportation was also suspended in Shenzhen.

Typhoon Saola, named for an elusive species of wild ox that is native to parts of Southeast Asia, has been moving through the region for days. It prompted evacuations in the Philippines, and school closings and travel disruptions in Taiwan.

A second Pacific typhoon was also threatening China this weekend.

Haikui was forecast to make landfall in eastern China, south of the city of Wenzhou, on Sunday, the US Embassy in Beijing said in a weather alert. It said southern and eastern China could see damaging winds, heavy rains, flooding, mudslides, and travel disruptions through Monday.

Typhoon Haikui, named after a sea anemone, had maximum sustained winds of about 97 mph, the center said.

Hurricanes and typhoons are tropical cyclones with sustained winds of at least 74 mph. The term “hurricane” refers to tropical cyclones in the Atlantic basin; “typhoon” refers to ones that develop in the northwestern Pacific and affect Asia.

Earlier this summer, dozens of people died in northern and northeastern China during heavy flooding.

There is consensus among scientists that tropical cyclones are becoming more powerful because of climate change and that the likelihood of major ones is increasing.

Climate change is also affecting the amount of rain that storms can produce.