Super Typhoon Yagi yesterday slammed into southern China’s Hainan island, bringing windspeeds of more than 230kph in what is set to be the strongest storm to hit the region in more than a decade.
Hainan Province evacuated more than 400,000 people ahead of the storm’s expected landfall, while tens of thousands prepared to seek shelter in neighboring Vietnam.
Yagi killed at least 13 people in the Philippines this week when it was still classified as a tropical storm, triggering floods and landslides on the main island of Luzon, before strengthening into a super typhoon over the past few days.
Photo: Xinhua via AP
The storm made landfall in China yesterday along the coast of Hainan, a popular holiday destination, and neighboring Guangdong Province at 4:20pm, Xinhua news agency reported, citing authorities.
In Hong Kong, a typhoon warning that had been in effect was lowered shortly after noon following heavy rains overnight as Yagi passed within 400km of the territory. Trading at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was suspended yesterday and schools were closed.
Authorities said five people were injured in the territory due to the weather, but damage was limited.
Southern China is frequently hit during summer and autumn by typhoons that form in the warm oceans east of the Philippines and then travel west.
However, climate change has made tropical storms more unpredictable and increased their intensity, leading to heavy rains and violent gusts that cause flash floods and coastal damage, experts say.
Yagi is to head toward Vietnam after moving through southern China, on course to hit the northern and north-central regions around the famed UNESCO heritage site Halong Bay today.
The Vietnamese Ministry of Defense said that more than 457,000 personnel from the army, police and other forces had been put on standby.
Authorities have announced plans to close four northern airports, including Hanoi’s main international hub Noi Bai, for several hours today, while all coastal cities and provinces put sailing bans in place yesterday.
Residents in the northern port of Hai Phong and the capital, Hanoi, were stocking up on food and other necessities.
Tourist boats in Ha Long Bay had been brought ashore or taken into shelters.
Pham Quang Quyen, a resident of Quang Ninh Province, said from Tuan Chau island that he had never experienced such a typhoon warning in nearly two decades.
“I hope we will survive the typhoon as we have been very well prepared,” Quyen said.
“We are all very much used to dealing with storms and heavy rains here,” he said.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
RSS