Fierce winds, pounding rain and high seas battered Hong Kong on Wednesday as Super Typhoon Ragasa headed into southern China after causing a lake burst that killed at least 14 people in Taiwan.
At least 129 other people went missing.
The Chinese finance hub saw scores of fallen trees and flooding in multiple neighbourhoods, with the storm surge smashing the glass doors of an upscale hotel and flooding its lobby, according to footage circulated online.
Ragasa is churning away from Hong Kong gradually around noon (0400 GMT) but the city will still be lashed by hurricane-force winds, according to the Hong Kong Observatory, which issued the highest level of typhoon warning overnight.
Ragasa has brought “significant storm surge”, with waters at coastal areas rising more than three metres above the reference level, the observatory added.
The nearby casino hub of Macau — which also saw widespread flooding — has suspended power supply to some low-lying areas, according to utility company CEM.
In Taiwan, at least 14 people were killed and 18 injured when a decades-old lake barrier burst in the eastern Hualien county after Ragasa pounded the island, according to regional officials.
The super typhoon killed at least two people while ripping through the northern Philippines.
China’s Ministry of Emergency Management said the typhoon is expected to make landfall along Guangdong’s coast between Zhuhai and Zhanjiang from midday to late Wednesday.
Authorities across mainland China ordered businesses and schools to shut down in at least 10 cities across the nation’s south, affecting tens of millions of people.
Streets were mostly empty as wind picked up on Wednesday morning in Yangjiang, a city west of Hong Kong near where the typhoon is expected to make landfall.
One local shopkeeper told AFP she was not sure if she would be able to open her convenience store today. “It will depend on the weather conditions,” she said.
The Yangjiang train station — normally bustling with activity, locals said — stood empty, with rail travel suspended Wednesday across the province of Guangdong.
LND/SAE
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