Super Typhoon Yagi Hits China's Hainan, Causes Mass Evacuations

In the wake of Super Typhoon Yagi, nearly one million residents were forced to evacuate as catastrophic winds and torrential rain devastated southern China. The super typhoon made landfall in Hainan province on Friday, causing widespread power outages and compelling mass evacuation. 
 
With sustained winds reaching speeds of 234 km/h at its core, Yagi is the second most powerful tropical cyclone globally this year, trailing only Hurricane Beryl in the Atlantic. The storm had significantly strengthened after having already claimed 16 lives in the northern Philippines earlier that week. 
 
The city of Wenchang in Hainan bore the brunt of Yagi's wrath on Friday afternoon when it severely incapacitated island infrastructure. Xinhua news agency reported a staggering figure: over 830,000 households plunged into darkness shortly following Yagi's onslaught. A robust emergency team comprising 7,000 members was mobilized for repair operations once conditions permitted; by Friday night they successfully restored power to approximately 260,000 households. 
 
Pre-emptive measures were taken across the island ahead of Yagi's arrival; flights were cancelled and ferry services suspended while businesses shuttered their doors temporarily. With a population nearing ten million people who were advised to remain indoors during the storm’s approach, Hainan Island is also a popular tourist destination that felt significant impacts from these preventative actions. 
 
Yagi’s influence extended well beyond just Hainan; schools closed down across Hong Kong with local businesses and transportation systems grinding to a halt there, as well as Macau and Guangdong province within mainland China itself. Vietnam’s airports experienced notable disruptions due to impending threats posed by Yagi, which was projected to reach them by the weekend time frame. 
 
On Friday night another destructive landing occurred—this time it was Guangdong feeling nature's fury when Super Typhoon Yagi crossed the Qiongzhou Strait, still boasting wind speeds exceeding an incredible 200 km/hour mark! By noon, over 574,500 residents had been evacuated from Guangdong province alone, with the majority hailing from Zhanjiang. 
 
Hong Kong's stock exchange remained closed as did schools. Airport operations resumed after a staggering 50 flights were cancelled on the previous day. The city’s typhoon warning was downgraded by midday as Yagi moved towards Vietnam. 
 
The Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai bridge—currently holding the title for the world's longest sea crossing—reopened Friday afternoon, having been shut since Thursday due to storm threats. 
 
Yagi holds an unfortunate record of being Hainan’s most severe typhoon since Typhoon Rammasun in 2014, which resulted in 88 fatalities and economic losses exceeding a whopping $6.25 billion. Originating over warm waters east of the Philippines, Yagi traced a path similar to Rammasun reaching China, classified as a category-4 typhoon, causing widespread destruction, including damaged roads, bridges, and buildings, though no fatalities have yet been reported so far within Hainan province itself. 
 
Scientists are attributing increasing intensity of such tropical storms to warmer oceans driven by climate change phenomena; just last week Japan was hit by Typhoon Shanshan—its strongest storm in decades—that notably struck the southwestern region of the country.