Typhoon rips through Hainan province

Strongest tropical storm to hit China in 40 years causes at least one death

Officials in China's southernmost province evacuated more than 230,000 people from their homes and shuttered tourist resorts and schools on Friday as a strengthening Typhoon Rammasun made landfall in Wenchang, Hainan province, toppling trees, snarling traffic and causing a man's death.

The typhoon, the strongest to hit the country since 1973, hit the Philippines earlier in the week, where it claimed at least 38 lives.

The deadly storm, with maximum winds of 60 meters per second near the center, tore through Hainan on Friday, suspending ferry services and stranding more than 10,000 passengers at airports in Haikou and Sanya.

"Heavy rainfall of more than 600 millimeters with gales are expected in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan and Yunnan before Sunday," said Zhang Ling, a forecaster with the National Meteorological Center.

The NMC issued a red alert for the typhoon on Friday, and authorities in Hainan and Guangdong provinces as well as the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region put emergency plans in motion.

The storm cut power to Wenchang along with parts of Haikou in Hainan on Friday. Water supplies were also cut off in parts of Haikou.

Chen Wu, deputy director of the Hainan provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters, said the province had ordered the evacuation of low-lying and coastal areas, as well as villages at risk of landslides. The evacuation wasn't finished as of Friday afternoon.

The NMC reported that the typhoon brought gusts of more than 56 meters per second in the eastern waters off Hainan and central and western waters off Guangdong as of 2 pm on Friday.

A man in Wenchang was confirmed killed on Friday afternoon when he returned to his home after evacuating and was crushed by a collapsed house, Liu Chunmei, mayor of the city, told Xinhua News Agency on Friday.

"Many homes were destroyed in the storm," Liu said.

The heavy rain and strong winds didn't make Guo Yongjiang's family panic. Their fishing boat was in a safe port as officials had ordered.

"The winds are strong, but we stored enough food before the typhoon," the 48-year-old fisherman said.

In addition to Guo's boat, about 26,410 ships in Hainan were ordered to return to port since Wednesday, Chen said.

While water traffic was suspended, about 256 flights were canceled at the airports of Haikou and Sanya on Friday due to the storms.

The National Tourism Administration issued a notice asking tourists to avoid the typhoon-affected areas on Friday.

A statement released by the Hainan provincial tourism administration said all tour buses in the province would stop operation until 4 pm on Saturday.

Full preparations also were made in Guangdong province on Friday, with 45,197 ships ordered back to port. The typhoon made a second landfall in western Guangdong on Friday, the local weather bureau said.

Contact the writers at wangqian@chinadaily.com.cn and huangyiming@chinadaily.com.cn

Zheng Caixiong in Guangzhou contributed to this story.

(China Daily 07/19/2014 page4)