Yagi slams into south China

Super Typhoon Yagi slammed into China’s Hainan island yesterday, bringing windspeeds of over 230 kilometres an hour in what is set to be the strongest storm to hit the region in more than a decade.

Hainan province evacuated more than 400,000 people ahead of the storm’s expected landfall, while tens of thousands prepared to seek shelter in neighbouring Vietnam.

Yagi killed at least 13 people in the Philippines this week when it was still classified as a tropical storm, triggering floods and landslides on the main island of Luzon before strengthening into a super typhoon over the past few days.

The typhoon “is equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane”, according to Nasa Earth Data. Yagi will head towards Vietnam after moving through southern China, on course to hit the northern and north-central regions around the famed UNESCO heritage site Halong Bay today.

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