Typhoon Ragasa weakens after landfall in Guangdong

Typhoon Ragasa, the world's most powerful tropical storm this year, made landfall at about 5 pm on Wednesday along the coast of Hailing Island in Yangjiang, Guangdong province, after killing 17 people in Taiwan and lashing Hong Kong with ferocious winds and heavy rains.

In Taiwan, a barrier lake of the Matai'an River in Hualien county overflowed following torrential rain caused by the typhoon, sending a wall of water into a town, killing 17 people and injuring many others, the island's emergency operations center said.

About 100 people remained trapped and were awaiting rescue, it added.

"We hope those affected will resume their normal lives as soon as possible," Chen Binhua, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said in a press release on Wednesday.

At the time of landfall on Wednesday, Ragasa, the 18th typhoon of the year, was classified as a category 13 event. At its most severe, its strength exceeded category 17, with anything exceeding 16 considered a super typhoon, according to the National Meteorological Center.

With its intensity gradually diminishing, the typhoon is expected to continue moving westward at a speed of around 20 kilometers per hour, the Guangdong meteorological observatory said.

Meanwhile, emergency management authorities in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, Guangdong province, lifted restrictions that had been imposed on business operations, public transportation and classes as the typhoon weakened on Wednesday.

Meteorological authorities in both cities also downgraded the red typhoon warning signal. By noon on Wednesday, authorities in Chaozhou, Shanwei and Jieyang in Guangdong had also lifted similar restrictions.

After the typhoon made landfall, traffic control measures were eased on several cross-sea bridges in the Pearl River estuary, including the Humen Bridge and the Nansha Bridge.

Train operations in Guangdong were expected to resume from Thursday midnight, China Railway Guangzhou Group said.

Before making landfall, Ragasa brought heavy rainfall and strong winds across most parts of Guangdong.

At 1 pm on Wednesday, three hydrological stations in Guangdong reported water levels exceeding danger levels due to heavy rainfall.

Hong Kong lowered its typhoon warning signal to No 8 at 1:20 pm on Wednesday as Ragasa moved away from the city. The signal is expected to remain in effect until 8 pm.

The previous No 10 signal, which was issued at 2:40 am on Wednesday, lasted for about 10 hours and 40 minutes. This makes it one of the longest-lasting, highest-level warnings in the city's meteorological history, surpassing the duration of Typhoon Mangkhut in 2018 and second only to the 11-hour record set by Typhoon York in 1999.

Meanwhile, recovery efforts were underway across the city. The Hong Kong International Airport announced that it will gradually resume full-capacity operations from Thursday morning, with over 1,000 flights expected to be handled throughout the day.

In a related development, the Mass Transit Railway Corp said that services on major urban subway lines, including the Island Line and Tsuen Wan Line, had largely returned to normal by Wednesday afternoon.

Till 8 pm on Wednesday, the Hong Kong authorities had received 22 reports of flooding and one landslide, along with 1,224 reports of fallen trees. A total of 905 people sought refuge in 50 temporary shelters.

Hong Kong's Hospital Authority confirmed that 101 people — 59 men and 42 women — were injured during the typhoon and received treatment at public hospitals.