One of the year’s strongest typhoons slams into ‘China’s Hawaii’

Hong Kong CNN —

One of this year’s most powerful storms slammed into the Chinese holiday island of Hainan on Friday, the strongest typhoon to make landfall there in ten years.

Packing maximum sustained wind speeds of 230 kilometers per hour (140 miles per hour), Typhoon Yagi is currently the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane — the world’s second-most powerful tropical cyclone of 2024 so far, only eclipsed by the Atlantic hurricane Beryl which was a Category 5.

Significant wind damage — including to trees, buildings and power lines — as well as flooding and extremely large waves along the coast are expected to hit Hainan and the southern province of Guangdong. The storm is expected to maintain its strength as it makes another landfall in northern Vietnam on Saturday evening, bringing between 10 to 20 inches of rain.

Scientists have found that hotter oceans caused by the human-caused climate crisis are leading storms to intensify more rapidly. Just two days ago, Yagi was a tropical storm with top winds of 90 kph (60 mph), but it rapidly gathered strength over the warm waters of the South China Sea. As it thundered towards Hainan, Yagi had been classified as super typhoon but it lost some strength before making landfall and was downgraded.

The approaching typhoon had already brought cities across Hainan to a standstill, with schools, businesses, restaurants and beaches closed and public transport, including trains and flights, halted. Some cities in the neighboring provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi adopted similar measures.

On Chinese social media, Hainan residents shared footage of an intense storm churning across the island on Thursday evening, with streaks of lightning flashing across a purple night sky.