More than an hour after Typhoon Yagi made landfall, Hainan (Southern China) experienced power outages affecting 830,000 households in the province, according to Xinhua News Agency.
The strongest typhoon in Asia this year, Super Typhoon Yagi, struck Hainan, Southern China on September 6, bringing strong winds and heavy rain that caused widespread power outages, paralyzing the island province known as the “Hawaii of China.”
830,000 Households Without Power
With sustained winds of up to 234 km/h near the eye of the storm, Yagi is recorded as the second-strongest tropical cyclone in the world for 2024 so far, following Category 5 Hurricane Beryl in the Atlantic, and is the most intense storm in the Pacific basin this year.
People walking past fallen trees amid strong winds and heavy rain as Typhoon Yagi made landfall in Hainan, China. (Photo: VCG).
A pedestrian walking against the wind on a street in Haikou, Hainan Province, Southern China. (Photo: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock).
After doubling in strength since claiming the lives of 16 people in northern Philippines earlier this week, Yagi struck the city of Wenchang in Hainan on the afternoon of September 6.
More than an hour after Yagi made landfall, Hainan experienced power outages affecting 830,000 households in the province, the official news agency Xinhua reported.
Xinhua also noted that the provincial power supply authority has established an emergency response team of 7,000 members who will begin repairs as soon as conditions permit.
By the evening of September 6, power had been restored to 260,000 households.
Before Typhoon Yagi made landfall, Hainan canceled flights and ferries, closed businesses, and advised its population of over 10 million not to go outside.
First images after Super Typhoon Yagi made landfall in Hainan. (Photo: Xinhua).
The storm closed schools, businesses, and transportation routes in Hong Kong, Macau, and Guangdong Province of China, as well as airports in Vietnam – where the storm is expected to make landfall over the weekend.
Second Landfall
On the night of September 7, Yagi crossed the Qiongzhou Strait north of Hainan and made a second landfall in Guangdong with winds still exceeding 200 km/h.
In Guangdong, more than 574,500 people were evacuated from at-risk areas by midday, with more than two-thirds coming from the city of Zhanjiang.
In the financial center of Hong Kong, the stock exchange was closed. The Hong Kong Airport Authority reported that operations returned to normal after 50 flights were canceled on September 5, and the city of over 7 million residents lowered its storm warning by one level after midday as Yagi moved westward towards Vietnam.
The world’s longest sea bridge, the main bridge connecting Hong Kong with Macau and Zhuhai in Guangdong (China), also reopened on the afternoon of September 6 after being closed since September 5. However, the heavy rain associated with Yagi is still expected to bring significant downpours to the region. The neighboring city of Shenzhen issued the highest rain alert.
Yagi is the most severe storm to hit Hainan since 2014, when Typhoon Rammasun made landfall in the island province classified as a Category 5 tropical storm. Rammasun claimed 88 lives in Hainan, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Yunnan, causing economic damage exceeding 44 billion yuan (6.25 billion USD).
“The storm is not as serious as initially feared, and so far the damage is minimal because the storm made landfall in Hainan (and not Guangdong),” said Qizhao, a banana farmer from Guangdong Province. He initially worried that Yagi could destroy months of hard work.
He mentioned that locals reinforced crops with poles to protect them from the strong winds. However, he remains vigilant until the storm passes.
Formed over warm waters east of the Philippines and following a similar path as Rammasun, Yagi made landfall in China as a Category 4 storm, bringing winds strong enough to overturn vehicles, uproot trees, and cause severe damage to roads, bridges, and buildings.
Workers preparing for Super Typhoon Yagi stacking sandbags at Xinhai Port on September 4 in Haikou, Hainan. (Photo: Luo Yunfei/China News Service/VCG).
Super Typhoon Yagi is considered a rare weather phenomenon, as most storms that make landfall in this region are very weak.
From 1949 to 2023, there have been 106 typhoons that made landfall in Hainan, but only 9 of these storms were classified as super typhoons.
So far, there have been no reported fatalities related to the storm in Hainan.
Scientists note that storms are becoming stronger due to warmer oceans amidst climate change.
Last week, Typhoon Shanshan made landfall in southwestern Japan, becoming the strongest storm to hit the country in decades.
| Yagi is named after the Japanese word meaning goat and the constellation Capricorn, a mythical creature that is half goat and half fish. |
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