Super Typhoon Yagi, the strongest storm in Asia this year, made landfall on China’s Hainan province Friday, bringing destructive winds and heavy rainfall that shut schools and grounded flights across the South China Sea region for the second consecutive day.
Yagi, with maximum sustained winds of 234 km/h (145 mph) near its center, ranks as the second-most powerful storm globally in 2024, following the Atlantic’s Category 5 Hurricane Beryl. It is the fiercest storm to hit the Pacific this year.
After doubling in intensity since its earlier landfall in the Philippines, where it claimed 16 lives, Yagi slammed into the city of Wenchang on Hainan Island. The storm had already caused widespread closures of schools, businesses, and transportation in Hong Kong, Macau, Hainan, and Guangdong, with airports in northern Vietnam, including Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport, set to close over the weekend as the storm advances toward Vietnam and Laos.
In Hong Kong, the stock exchange remained closed, and schools shut their doors as a precaution. The city’s airport began resuming operations after canceling 50 flights the previous day, and the city lowered its typhoon warning level as winds began to subside. Meanwhile, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, the world’s longest sea crossing, reopened after being closed since Thursday.
Despite the storm’s weakening, Hong Kong continues to experience heavy rain from Yagi’s trailing rainbands.
Yagi marks the most intense storm to hit Hainan since Typhoon Rammasun in 2014, which killed 88 people and caused more than $6.25 billion in damage across southern China. Residents in Guangdong, such as banana farmer Qizhao, voiced concerns about the typhoon’s impact, reinforcing crops in anticipation of the storm’s powerful winds.
The typhoon, which formed over the warm waters east of the Philippines, reached China as a Category Four storm, bringing winds strong enough to topple vehicles, uproot trees, and damage infrastructure. Photos from Hainan’s capital, Haikou, show empty streets as residents hunkered down indoors.
As Yagi continues its path through Southeast Asia, authorities are on high alert, monitoring the situation closely and implementing safety measures to protect vulnerable communities and infrastructure.
