Super Typhoon Yagi hits China's Hainan, killing two and forcing 1 million people to flee their homes | China

Asia's strongest storm this year, Super Typhoon Yagi, hit China's Hainan island on Friday, bringing violent storms and heavy rain that killed at least two people and injured 92, state media reported, and forced about a million people in the south of the country to flee their homes.

The storm caused widespread power outages and paralyzed the tourist island province.

With maximum sustained winds of 234 km/h near its center, Yagi is the world's second strongest tropical cyclone this year – after Category 5 Hurricane Beryl in the Atlantic – and the most severe of 2024 in the Pacific basin.

After killing 16 people in the northern Philippines earlier this week and now more than doubling in strength, Yagi hit the city of Wenchang on Hainan on Friday afternoon.

Just over an hour after Yagi's arrival, power outages occurred in Hainan, affecting 830,000 households in the province, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The storm “hit Hainan with heavy rain and gusty winds, leaving at least two dead and 92 injured,” Xinhua reported, citing local authorities.

The provincial power supply authority has set up a 7,000-strong emergency team that will begin repairs as soon as conditions permit, Xinhua added. By Friday night, power had been restored to 260,000 households.

The island's main airport in Haikou was closed until 3 p.m. (7 a.m. GMT) on Saturday, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Before Yagi's arrival, the island, known for its sandy beaches and glamorous hotels, had canceled flights and ferries, closed shops and asked its more than 10 million residents to stay home.

According to CCTV, Yagi prompted the evacuation of around 460,000 people on the island. Authorities in neighboring Guangdong province said on Friday that they had evacuated more than 574,000 residents.

The typhoon had already paralyzed schools, businesses and transport links in Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong province, as well as airports in Vietnam. The country and Laos are expected to be hit by the storm over the weekend.

On Friday evening, Yagi crossed the Qiongzhou Strait north of Hainan and made landfall in Guangdong for the second time, with wind speeds still exceeding 200 km/h.

In the financial center of Hong Kong, the stock exchange was closed and schools remained closed.

Hong Kong's airport authority said operations had largely returned to normal after 50 flights were cancelled on Thursday. The city of seven million also lowered its typhoon warning by one level after midday as Yagi moved westward toward Vietnam.

The world's longest sea crossing, the main bridge connecting Hong Kong with Macau and Zhuhai in Guangdong, also reopened on Friday afternoon after being closed since Thursday.

Yagi is the worst storm since 2014, when Typhoon Rammasun hit Hainan as a Category 5 tropical cyclone. Rammasun killed 88 people in Hainan, Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan and caused economic damage of more than 44 billion yuan ($6.25 billion).

Yagi formed over warm seas east of the Philippines and followed a similar path to Rammasun. It reached China as a Category 4 typhoon, bringing winds strong enough to overturn vehicles, uproot trees, and cause severe damage to roads, bridges, and buildings.

No fatalities have been reported from Hainan so far.

Typhoons are becoming more and more violent, scientists say. Climate change and the associated warming of the oceans are encouraging this. Last week, Typhoon Shanshan hit southwest Japan, the strongest storm in decades.

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse