Typhoon Yagi made landfall in southern China on Friday as it forced more than a million evacuations, shuttered schools and businesses, disrupted travel and raised alarms about the risks of landslides and floods.
Yagi, one of 2024’s most powerful storms, made landfall in the island province of Hainan at 4:20 p.m. local time, according to China’s National Meteorological Center.
At landfall, it was the equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane, the U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said.
The eye of Typhoon Yagi passed directly over the city of Haikou, China, on Friday evening local time, allowing the worst of the winds to smash the city.
The storm weakened as it moved into the Gulf of Tonkin and was rapidly reorganizing overnight.
Over the next 12 hours, the very warm waters will likely allow the storm to intensify to 130 miles per hour, if not higher, before it makes landfall near Haiphong, Vietnam, on Saturday.
This strength would be the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane. If it occurs, it would be a rare occurrence. No storm has made landfall in Vietnam with this intensity, especially this far north, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s historical hurricane database.
The heavy rain in southern China began on Thursday and was expected to last into Monday, forecasters said.
The Chinese center predicted that parts of Hainan and Guangdong provinces would receive more than 20 inches of rain in a day.
Guangdong, Hainan and Guangxi provinces raised their emergency response to the highest level, warning residents of the risks of landslides and floods. National task forces were sent to Guangdong and Hainan to help prepare for severe weather.
More than 410,000 people in Hainan and 670,000 in Guangdong have been evacuated because of the storm, state media reported.
Hainan authorities asked residents not to leave their homes and ordered all nonessential businesses, markets, public transportation, schools and tourist attractions to be closed.
Guangdong’s transportation department closed six highways and a major bridge linking Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai. In Hainan, Haikou Meilan International Airport canceled all flights that had been scheduled for Friday.
The storm skirted Hong Kong, where it left nine people injured and forced the stock market to close on Friday. The Hong Kong Observatory warned of the risk of powerful winds, urging residents to stay away from the shore.
In Vietnam, the authorities urged ships to return to shore and evacuated residents and tourists from islands, state media reported. In Hanoi and other northern provinces, schools were ordered to close on Saturday, according to the local news media. The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam suspended flights across at least four airports on Friday.
Yagi, which killed at least 16 people in the Philippines earlier this week, became a super typhoon after a “period of extremely rapid intensification” in the South China Sea, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center said.
The center defines a super typhoon as a tropical cyclone of 150 m.p.h. or greater in the western North Pacific.
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