Hong Kong (AP) – cities in southern China reduced many aspects of everyday life on Tuesday, with the closure of schools and businesses and the cancellation of flights, while the region prepared for the arrival of one of the strongest typhons in years, which has already charged three lives and displaced thousands of people in the Philippines.
Residents of flood -prone areas placed sandbags and barriers on their doors, while others put adhesive tape on windows and glass doors in forecast of strong winds. Many people supplied food and daily supplies on Monday, and some vendors reported that they were running out of existent. Some inhabitants of Hong Kong gathered on a promenade to observe how the waves of 2 to 3 meters (from 6 to 10 feet) splashed the pedestrian area before the weather worsened.
The Hong Kong Observatory said that the supertifone Ragasa, which has maximum sustained winds near the center of about 220 km/h (137 mph), moves in the west-nestest direction to about 22 km/h (14 mph) through the northern part of the South China Sea and approaches the coast of the province of Guangdong, an economic power of the south of China.
The National Meteorological Center of China predicted that the typhoon would touch land in the coastal area between the cities of Zhuhai and Zhanjiang in Guangdong between noon and Wednesday night.
Closures in schools and transport while factories suspend their work
After broadcasting strong winds, the Observatory in Hong Kong issued the storm warning number number 8, the third highest in the city alert system. The city designates tropical cyclones with maximum winds near the center from 185 km/h (115 mph), so that the population is more attentive to the arrival of more intense storms.
It is forecast that the water level increases about two meters (6.5 feet) in the coastal areas of Hong Kong on Wednesday morning, while the maximum level of water in some areas could reach four to five meters (13.1 to 16.4 feet) above the lowest level of the sea.
The Government said that water levels could be similar to those registered during the passage of Typhoon Hato in 2017 and typhoon Mangkhut in 2018 – which are estimated to cause economic losses to the city above the 1,000 million dollars of Hong Kong (154 million dollars) and 4.6 billion dollars of Hong Kong (around 590 million dollars), respectively.
The schools were closed in Hong Kong and the neighboring city of Macao. Other cities such as Shenzhen, the Technology Center of China, Guangzhou and Foshan, in the province of Guangdong, and Haikou, in the province of Hainan, ordered that the classes be canceled and the operation of other businesses, production and transport services were gradually suspended.
Hundreds of flights were canceled in Hong Kong. The Shenzhen airport will stop all flights from Tuesday night. The Macao government was evacuating residents and tourists and ordered the closure of bridges at night.
Ragasa left a trace of destruction in the Philippines and Taiwan
At least six people were injured and more than 7,000 people were evacuated in Taiwan when the typhoon passed to the island, the central news agency reported. He said that heavy rains made a dam formed by a landslide in Hualien County overflowed and water torrents descended sweeping a bridge. Publications on social networks showed roads in the area turned into turbulent rivers.
In the north of the Philippines, Ragasa caused the death of at least three people, another five were missing and more than 17,500 were forced to move due to floods and landslides, according to officials.
Among the dead was a 74 -year -old man who died on the way to the hospital after being in one of the four vehicles buried Monday by an land avalanche on a road in the mountainous town of Tuba, in the province of Benguet, authorities reported. Two other inhabitants died in the storm, including a resident of the town of Calayan, a group of islands in front of the northern province of Cagayán where the Superfon touched earth on Monday, officials indicated without providing details.
Ragasa, which in Tagalo means “avalanche”, forced the Filipino government to close government schools and offices on Monday in the densely populated region of the capital and 29 provinces of the north of the country. Fishing and ferry boats were prohibited from venturing into very agitated seas and national flights were canceled.
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Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines contributed to this office.
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This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.
This article was published by Kanis Leung on 2025-09-22 23:38:00
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