Typhoon Saola swept through southern China on Saturday morning, after tearing down trees and smashing windows in Hong Kong, with winds less violent than expected.
China’s National Meteorological Center said Saola, downgraded from a super typhoon to a severe typhoon, made landfall around 3:30 a.m. Saturday (2030 GMT Friday) south of Zhuhai city, Guangdong province.
Tens of millions of people in Hong Kong, Shenzhen and other major cities in southern China were holed up in their homes on Friday as Saola approached, threatening to become the strongest to hit the region in decades.
More than 880,000 people were evacuated from two Chinese provinces before the typhoon landed, hundreds of flights were canceled and trees were already uprooted from deserted, rain-battered streets in Hong Kong, where the return to school was postponed.
“Saola could become the strongest typhoon since 1949 to hit the Pearl River Delta,” which includes major cities like Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Macau, the National Meteorological Center predicted on social media Weibo.
The Hong Kong authorities raised the alert level from T8 to T9 at the end of the day on Friday, then to T10, the maximum, issued only 16 times since the Second World War.
At 3:40 a.m. (8:40 p.m. GMT), after more than seven hours under T10, Hong Kong fell to the T8 level. But with gusts of up to 139 km/h, authorities asked residents to remain vigilant.
“Gusts of wind are still affecting some places… Precautions should not be relaxed yet,” the Hong Kong Meteorological Observatory said at 8 a.m. local time (0000 GMT).
Storefronts and windows of shops and homes had been shielded on Friday were taped off, while office buildings near Victoria Harbor barricaded entrances to try to keep water out.
The Hong Kong Airport Authority announced the cancellation of more than 300 flights on Friday.
The Exchange announced the cancellation of “morning trading sessions for all markets”.
In mainland China, Guangdong province, where 780,000 people were evacuated from high-risk areas, suspended train traffic until Saturday evening, and 100,000 people were also evacuated in Fujian province.
Shenzhen, one of the country’s main economic centers, has ordered the closure of offices, shops and markets and opened shelters for the population.
All public transport in this city of 17.7 million inhabitants ceased service in the evening, while trains to and from Guangzhou are suspended until 6 p.m. local time on Saturday.
Dozens of delivery drivers braved strong winds and rain to reach residents who had taken refuge in their homes.
“I will work until I feel it is too dangerous,” one of them, 22-year-old Chai Jijie, told AFP. “People don’t want to go out but want to have supplies. There are a lot of requests for deliveries.”
“There could be severe flooding” in the eastern coastal areas, underlines the meteorological observatory, which considers possible water levels similar to those caused by Typhoon Mangkhut in 2018. More than 300 people were injured in Hong Kong .
In mainland China, it had affected more than three million people in the southern provinces, killing six.
In a low-lying fishing village in flood-prone Lei Yue Mun district, water has already risen, seeping into shops, where sandbags barricade closed doors.
“We raised (the appliances) so the water wouldn’t damage them,” a restaurateur named Lee told a local TV station, hoping to keep his business safe.
Southern China is frequently hit by typhoons that form in the warm oceans east of the Philippines in summer and autumn and then move west.
Although they can temporarily disrupt activity in cities like Hong Kong and Macau, typhoons cause far fewer casualties and damage, thanks to stricter building standards and better flood management systems.
Climate change has increased the intensity of tropical storms, with more rainfall and stronger gusts causing flash flooding and coastal damage, experts say.
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02/09/2023 04:24:17 – Hong Kong (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
