2 weeks ago
7
One of this year's astir almighty storms is barrelling toward confederate China and is expected to marque landfall successful the fashionable tourer land of Hainan aboriginal today.
Trains, boats and flights person been suspended for a 2nd time successful the province, portion schools stay unopen successful parts of the broader confederate portion arsenic ace typhoon Yagi closes in.
Yagi has doubled successful spot aft wrecking havoc successful bluish Philippines aboriginal this week. It is presently packing winds of up to 240km/h (150mph) adjacent its eye.
Meteorologists accidental Yagi whitethorn origin "catastrophic" harm successful Hainan and neighbouring Guangdong, which is besides China's astir populous province.
Yagi is an "extremely unsafe and powerful" ace typhoon which volition soon marque a "potentially catastrophic" landfall, the Indo-Pacific Tropical Cyclone Warning Center wrote successful an advisory connected Thursday.
A ace typhoon is equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane.
Authorities successful Hainan person ordered each tourer attractions to beryllium unopen since Wednesday, informing of "massive and destructive winds".
The world's longest oversea crossing, the main span linking Hong Kong with Macau and Zhuhai successful Guangdong, was besides closed.
Parts of the portion person been experiencing dense rainfall and beardown gales since Thursday. China's upwind authorization expects rainfall to scope up to 500mm.
Hainan, which boasts sandy beaches and wide waters, is nary alien to typhoons. But conscionable 9 of the106 typhoons that person landed successful Hainan from 1949 to 2023 were classified arsenic ace typhoons, Reuters reported.
Chinese authorities judge Yagi volition beryllium the strongest typhoon to deed its confederate seashore successful a decade.
Yagi is expected to marque different landfall successful bluish Vietnam precocious connected Saturday successful a weakened state.
Vietnam's lawman agriculture curate has warned that it could deed regions "crucial to the socio-economic development" of the region.
"Carelessness could effect successful catastrophic damage," Nguyen Hoang Hiep said.
Earlier this week, floods and landslides brought by Yagi killed astatine slightest 13 radical successful bluish Philippines, with thousands of radical forced to evacuate to safer ground.
Scientists accidental typhoons and hurricanes are becoming stronger and much predominant with clime change. Warmer water waters mean storms prime up much energy, which leads to higher upwind speeds.
A warmer ambiance besides holds much moisture, which tin pb to much aggravated rainfall.
Yagi comes a week aft typhoon Shanshan deed Japan, sidesplitting astatine slightest six radical and injuring hundreds.
English (US)