HONG KONG: Asia’s strongest storm this year, Super Typhoon Yagi, landed in China’s Hainan on Friday ( Sep 6), bringing violent gales and heavy rain that triggered power outages, paralysing the tourist island province known as” China’s Hawaii”.
Packing maximum sustained winds of 234kmh near its centre, Yagi files as the country’s second-most strong tropical storm in 2024 so much, after the Category 5 Atlantic storms Beryl, and the most intense in the Pacific lake this year.
Yagi slammed into the town of Wenchang in Hainan on Friday evening after more than doubled in power since killing 16 people in the northern Philippines earlier this year.
A little more than an afternoon after Yagi’s appearance, Hainan saw power outages that affected 830, 000 homes in the state, the standard news agency Xinhua said.
A 7, 000-member crisis team led by the municipal energy supply division would begin repairs as soon as circumstances arose, Xinhua added.
By Friday evening, authority to 260, 000 families had been restored.
Back of Yagi’s appearance, the area known for its sandy shores and glamorous hotels had cancelled flights and ferries, shuttered businesses, and told its inhabitants of more than 10 million to stop from going out.
The typhoon had already shut schools, businesses and transport links in Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong province as well as airports in Vietnam, which it is predicted to hit, along with Laos, over the weekend.