Southern Chinese provinces and cities are preparing for the arrival of super typhoon Yagi, with schools closing and flights being postponed in anticipation of the storm’s expected landfall along Hainan’s subtropical coast. This storm is projected to be the most powerful to hit China in years.
Named after the Japanese word for goat and the constellation Capricornus, a mythical creature that is half goat and half fish, Yagi has more than doubled its strength since causing devastation in northern Philippines earlier this week.
With maximum sustained winds reaching 209 kph (130 mph) near its eye, Yagi is currently the world’s second-most powerful tropical cyclone of 2024, behind only the Category 5 Atlantic hurricane Beryl.
Scientists attribute the increasing strength of typhoons to warmer ocean temperatures and climate change. Last week, Typhoon Shanshan struck southwestern Japan, marking the strongest storm to hit the country in decades.
Yagi intensified into a super typhoon on Wednesday night and was located about 500 km (300 miles) southeast of Zhanjiang in Guangdong province on Thursday afternoon. Authorities have raised the typhoon alert to its highest level.
The storm is expected to move at a speed of 10-15 km/h (6-9 mph), bringing heavy rainfall to the southern coastal areas of Guangdong and Hainan Island.
Yagi is projected to further intensify and make landfall between Qionghai in Hainan and Dianbai in Guangdong from the afternoon to the night of September 6.
Typhoon Yagi (Photo: JMA)In preparation, trains and boats in Hainan were suspended on Thursday morning, and many schools across southern China, including in Hong Kong and Macau, were closed.
Hong Kong announced it would issue its third-highest typhoon signal, number 8, at 6:40 p.m. on Thursday, leading to business closures and reduced transport services in the special administrative region.
The city’s weather observatory warned that intense rain bands would impact the area later Thursday, with heavy showers expected to continue on Friday. Several flights from Hong Kong International Airport have been canceled, and if signal 8 remains in place on Friday morning, the city’s stock exchange will be closed.
In Guangdong province, the emergency response level has been elevated to the highest for strong winds. Macau plans to raise its typhoon signal to the same level as Hong Kong between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Thursday.
The main bridge linking Hong Kong with Macau and Zhuhai in Guangdong will be closed Thursday evening as authorities shut the world’s longest sea crossing until further notice.
All inbound and outbound flights from Hainan’s Haikou airport will be suspended from Thursday at 8 p.m. until Friday midnight. Local authorities have also closed beaches and coastal tourist attractions.
The projected landfall of super typhoon Yagi in Hainan is unusual, as most typhoons that impact the duty-free island are classified as weak. From 1949 to 2023, 106 typhoons made landfall in Hainan, with only 9 classified as super typhoons.
Earlier this week, Yagi caused at least 13 fatalities in the Philippines.