Typhoon Yagi makes landfall in Chinese island province after it sweeps by Hong Kong

Hong Kong: A powerful typhoon made landfall on the Chinese tropical vacation island of Hainan Friday after it swept south of Hong Kong, bringing many aspects of life in the region to a halt and forcing about a million people in the country’s south to leave their homes.

The Hainan province’s meteorological service said Yagi — earlier packing winds of up to about 245 kph near its center — made landfall in the province’s Wenchang city at around 4:20 pm. It is expected to sweep toward other parts of the island before moving to the Beibu Gulf, it said. China’s national meteorological authorities said Yagi was the strongest autumn typhoon to have landed in China. They predicted it would make a second landfall in Xuwen County in neighboring Guangdong province on Friday night.

Ahead of the afternoon landfall, nearly 4,20,000 residents were relocated in Hainan, and so were more than half a million people in Guangdong, state media said.

People built sandbag barriers outside buildings to guard against possible floods in Hainan and reinforced their windows with tape, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported. State media said classes, work, transportation and businesses had been suspended in parts of the province as early as Wednesday evening. Some tourist attractions were closed and all flights at three airports on the island were expected to be grounded on Friday. CCTV said Qinzhou city in Guangxi region also issued a top emergency response alert to guard against the typhoon.