The authorities in Guangdong Province, in southern China, evacuated more than one million people as Typhoon Ragasa continued its path of destruction on Wednesday, having killed 21 people and injured dozens as it blew past the Philippines, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Chinese state media reported that more than 38,000 firefighters and 400 emergency teams were readied as the province, which is heavily populated, braced for a direct hit. The Chinese authorities also allotted $21 million for disaster relief for the southern provinces of Guangdong, Hainan and Fujian. About 5 p.m. local time, the storm landed on Guangdong’s Hailing Island, about 145 miles west of Hong Kong, according to state media.
Ragasa reached sustained wind speeds of 165 miles per hour on Monday, making it briefly the most powerful storm in the world so far this year, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Hawaii. On Wednesday, the center recorded sustained wind speeds of 120 miles per hour shortly after it made landfall, making the storm equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane.
Early in the day, the typhoon slammed Hong Kong with pelting rain and powerful winds that toppled hundreds of trees and flooded coastal areas. The Hong Kong authorities said that 90 people had been injured as of Wednesday evening.
It made its first landfall in the Philippines on Monday, resulting in at least four deaths, before heading back to sea and crossing south of Taiwan on Tuesday, killing 17 people and leaving 17 others missing as of Wednesday evening.
Raging floodwaters collapsed a bridge, Taiwan’s emergency department said at a news conference Tuesday evening. The dead and missing came from one part of Hualien County, in the east, the agency said. More than 8,000 people had been evacuated across the island.
Videos posted on social media showed people trapped in their homes, waiting to be rescued, and cars being carried away by murky floodwaters. In one dramatic clip, a woman was seen clinging to a utility pole in a market to avoid being pulled away by chest-high water. The authorities later confirmed that she was rescued.
Videos online showed water rushing into businesses in Hong Kong, including into the lobby of the seaside Fullerton Ocean Park Hotel. Seawater crashed through the hotel’s glass doors, knocking a man off his feet and sweeping him to one side of the lobby.
Anna Cholewka woke up on Wednesday to CCTV footage of seawater bursting through her restaurant’s doors, flipping tables and chairs. A storm surge in the eastern neighborhood of Tseung Kwan O breached a sea wall and flooded a promenade where she and her husband, Mark Cholewka, run a French bistro. The couple saw much of the restaurant’s furniture float away and are now unsure of when it can reopen.
“I cried,” said Ms. Cholewka, who opened Bistro La Baie nearly three years ago. “We put a lot of thought into this place to serve the food that we love to this community. It’s just gone now. It hurts.”
Typhoons in the Western Pacific have grown in intensity as a result of higher temperatures in the sea and atmosphere stemming from climate change, Shun Chi-ming, the former director of Hong Kong Observatory, said in a phone interview. The warming has caused heavier rains when typhoons make landfall.
Ragasa ultimately skirted Hong Kong by 75 miles, sparing the city from more severe damage. But Mr. Shun said that damage in mainland China was expected to be more significant.
“For western Guangdong, there are places where they will get the full force of the typhoon,” Mr. Shun said.
Hong Kong had been preparing for the worst. The city’s Disneyland resort was closed, horse races were canceled and classes were suspended. Supermarket shelves were emptied as residents stocked up on food, and many taped their windows at home. Maintenance workers set up flood barriers, covered outdoor escalators and secured sculptures to the ground.
More than 600 flights from Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong Airlines and other carriers were canceled earlier in the week at Hong Kong International Airport. The airport authority said that it handled all of around 600 flights on Tuesday.
Shenzhen’s airport suspended flights from Tuesday evening but said they would gradually resume starting at 8 p.m. on Wednesday.
The gambling hub of Macau announced that casinos would be temporarily closed starting Tuesday evening.
After hitting China, the storm is expected to continue westward, reaching as far as Vietnam and Laos later this week and most likely weakening further.
Areas that the typhoon passed days ago are still suffering.
The Philippine authorities said Wednesday that 40,000 people were still in evacuation centers. The council reported four deaths — including a person who was crushed by a landslide — 11 injured and one missing person. About 34 bridges, mostly on Luzon Island, were damaged and impassable.
Li You contributed reporting from Shanghai, and Jason Gutierrez from Manila.
Tiffany May is a reporter based in Hong Kong, covering the politics, business and culture of the city and the broader region.
David Pierson covers Chinese foreign policy and China’s economic and cultural engagement with the world. He has been a journalist for more than two decades.
Xinyun Wu is a reporter and researcher covering technology and business in China and Taiwan and is based in Taipei, Taiwan.
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