Typhoon Ragasa Slams Into China After Deaths in Taiwan and the Philippines

Typhoon Ragasa made landfall in southern China on Wednesday, bringing with it powerful winds and heavy rainfall, after leaving a trail of destruction and death in the Philippines and Taiwan. The storm, which had reached sustained wind speeds of 165 miles per hour on Monday, made its way to Guangdong Province, where authorities had evacuated over 1 million people in preparation for the direct hit.According to Chinese state media, over 38,000 firefighters and 400 emergency teams were deployed to the region, with $21 million allocated for disaster relief in the southern provinces of Guangdong, Hainan, and Fujian. The storm landed on Guangdong's Hailing Island, about 145 miles west of Hong Kong, at around 5 p.m. local time, with sustained wind speeds of 120 miles per hour, equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane.The typhoon's impact was felt in Hong Kong, where 90 people were injured, and hundreds of trees were toppled, with coastal areas flooded. In the Philippines, at least four people died when the typhoon made landfall on Monday, while in Taiwan, 14 people were killed and 17 others were reported missing.The Taiwanese authorities reported that raging floodwaters had collapsed a bridge, and videos posted on social media showed people trapped in their homes, waiting to be rescued, and cars being carried away by murky floodwaters. One dramatic clip showed a woman clinging to a utility pole in a market to avoid being pulled away by chest-high water, before being rescued.In Hong Kong, businesses were inundated with water, including the lobby of the seaside Fullerton Ocean Park Hotel, where seawater crashed through the glass doors, knocking a man off his feet. Anna Cholewka, owner of Bistro La Baie, a French restaurant in the eastern neighborhood of Tseung Kwan O, described the devastation: "I cried. We put a lot of thought into this place to serve the food that we love to this community. It's just gone now. It hurts."According to Shun Chi-ming, the former director of Hong Kong Observatory, typhoons in the Western Pacific have grown in intensity due to climate change, resulting in heavier rains when they make landfall. He warned that damage in mainland China was expected to be more significant, particularly in western Guangdong, where areas would get the full force of the typhoon.Hong Kong had been bracing for the worst, with Disneyland resort closed, horse races canceled, and classes suspended. Supermarket shelves were emptied, and many residents taped their windows at home. Over 600 flights were canceled at Hong Kong International Airport, while Shenzhen's airport suspended flights on Tuesday evening.The storm is expected to continue westward, reaching Vietnam and Laos later this week, and most likely weakening further. Areas that the typhoon passed days ago are still suffering, with 40,000 people still in evacuation centers in the Philippines, and 34 bridges damaged and impassable.