HANOI, Vietnam – Typhoon Ragasa, having weakened from its peak as the world’sโค strongestโค cyclone โฃthisโ year,โค is nowโ bringing heavy โคrain and a heightened risk of flooding โto northernโฃ Vietnam, authorities said Thursday. Theโฃ storm previously caused widespread damage and disruption across southern China, Taiwan, and the โฃPhilippines.
Ragasa peaked Monday with โmaximum sustained winds of 265 kphโค (165 mph), prompting the โrelocation of more than 2 millionโข people across Guangdong province in China ahead of its arrival. In Guangdong, โnearly half a million households experienced powerโข outages, with over โa third still withoutโฃ electricity asโฃ of Thursday morning, according to Yangjiang Daily. Cities like Zhuhai saw streetsโ transformed into rivers, requiring inflatable boat โrescues of strandedโข residents, โwhile older neighborhoods experienced โground-floor flooding, Southern Metropolis Daily reported.โ Dialog wasโข cut โoff with some islandsโ in Jiangmen city, Southern Weeklyโข newspaper said.
Further westโข in Guangxi region, schools, businesses, and tourism activities were temporarily suspended.
In Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, operations were gradually returning to normal afterโข earlier disruptions. Hong kong International Airport resumed flights following theโ cancellation of โapproximately 1,000 flights affecting 140,000 passengers. Businesses reopened, though โscattered fallen branches remainedโ after โfierce โwinds toppled overโฃ 1,200โค trees. Approximately 100 โคinjured individuals were treated at hospitals.
Taiwan revised its death toll down to 14 โคfrom an initial count of 17, all โfatalities occurring in Hualien County due to flooding from an overflowing barrier lake. Muddy torrents destroyed aโข bridge in Guangfu township, sweeping away โvehicles and furniture. Someโ residentsโ in Hualien remain unaccounted for, and dozens wereโฃ injured across the island. Taiwanese Presidentโ Lai โขChing-te visited the county, expressing โcondolences and pledging goverment support for recovery efforts.
The Philippines reported at leastโค 11 deaths attributed to Ragasa, including sevenโค fishermen who drowned when their boat capsized in Cagayan province. Two fishermen remain missing.
Leung reported from Hong Kong. Jim Gomez in manila, Philippines andโ Johnson Lai in โtaipei, Taiwan โขcontributedโค to this report.