8 September
Super Typhoon Yagi has left four people dead and 95 injured in Hainan, writes Lara Netherlands in Haikou.
Yagi, the 11th typhoon of 2024, ranks as the most powerful typhoon in Hainan’s history and the strongest autumn storm to have hit the country since the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
It broke the records of Typhoon Rammasun which pounded the island in 2014, with Yagi registering the strongest winds, longest duration of force 12 winds, highest rainfall intensity and the largest population affected.
The maximum wind force exceeded level 17 (56.9 m/s), surpassing the 53.5 m/s recorded during the Typhoon Rammasun. Yagi’s force 12 winds struck Haikou at 3pm on 6 September and lasted for a total of eight hours, making it more resilient than Rammasun.
7 September
Mayor of Haikou Ding Hui revealed the following at a press conference held by Hainan’s Emergency Command Centre:
As of 5pm on 7 September:
- An estimated 1.27 million people have been affected by Typhoon Yagi causing economic losses worth CNY26.3 billion (US$3.7 billion) in Haikou City.
- 401 houses collapsed, 32,424 homes were badly damaged, 167,800 trees were uprooted, and 56,742 hectares of crops were affected in Haikou City.
- Four deaths were recorded in Hainan Province (including one in Haikou) with 95 people injured.
Wenchang City and 17 surrounding towns have also been severely affected with 25,000 homes damaged and an estimated economic loss of CNY32.7 billion (US$4.6 billion)
Post-disaster recovery units have prioritised peoples’ livelihood needs, paying special attention to water supply, network restoration and power supply to homes and hospitals. China Southern Power Grid has dispatched an additional 10,000 people to Hainan from Guangdong, Guanxi and Guizhou provinces. The first batch of 723 people arrived on 4 September (two days before Typhoon Yagi hit the island) and were on standby for immediate attendance to aftermath power supply issues.
Ferry services across Qiongzhou Strait are expected to resume services on the evening of 8 September. Haikou Meilan International Airport has remained closed and Sanya Phoenix International Airport gradually resumed flights on 7 September at 10am.
“A whole street was badly damaged with trees uprooted and broken glass everywhere,” said The Moodie Davitt Report China Travel Retail Express Editor Dachang Wang of the scene today in Qiongshan District, Haikou, where he lives (close to our regional office). “It was a terrible typhoon.”
While water and electricity are currently cut off in the area, Wang praised the efforts of local authorities. “I believe they will be restored soon, because there are many people in related departments who are working hard,” he commented.
“The worst is over,” added The Moodie Davitt Report Asia Pacific Content Strategist Lara Netherlands. “My windows are ok but many of those in my community [in Xiuying district, Haikou] have been blasted.
“A lot of apartments have been wiped out. There were doors flying around at some point. I am very very lucky my apartment is ok. Just some minor flooding. The promenade has been wiped out.”
{Above and below} Reminders from yesterday of Super Typhoon Yagi’s ferocity from The Moodie Davitt Report’s Hainan team}
As Super Typhoon Yagi moves on to the Mainland and northern Vietnam, Hainan residents are counting the cost of the Pacific basin’s severest typhoon of the year and the strongest to hit the province since 2014.
Yagi smashed into the coastal area of Wengtian town in Wenchang city, east of Hainan’s capital Haikou around 4.20pm on Friday. According to China Daily, wind speeds near the centre reached above level 17 (62 metres per second).
On Friday night, Yagi crossed Qiongzhou Strait north of Hainan, hitting Guangdong and the surrounding coastal region to northern Vietnam with winds still exceeding 200kph. Some 575,000 people had been evacuated from Guangdong earlier, mostly from the city of Zhanjiang.
Earlier in the week Yagi claimed 16 lives in the northern Philippines.
The photos below, taken by Lara this morning, show the damage around Xiuying district.
6 September
18.30 Haikou (the video below was shot from her apartment by The Moodie Davitt Report Asia Pacific Content Strategist Lara Netherlands, who soon after was forced to take shelter in the basement along with her neighbours)
18.20 Haikou (shot by The Moodie Davitt Report China Travel Retail Express Editor Dachang Wang)
17.30 Wenchang, northern Hainan (from The Moodie Davitt Report Chief China Representative Yimei Zhang)
11.55 Hainan time
CHINA. The off-shore duty-free haven of Hainan is bracing itself this morning for the full impact of Typhoon Yagi, which is due to smash into the island this afternoon.
Flights in and out of Sanya Phoenix and Haikou Meilan international airports have been cancelled as have trains and ferries. The island’s all-important offshore duty-free shops are closed until further notice.
Local government media HICN said: “According to the current season, wind circulation and path of Typhoon Yagi, there is a high probability that the storm will impact Hainan and will be comparable to the impact of Typhoon Rammasun, which hit Hainan in 2014. Typhoon Yagi may be the strongest typhoon to impact Hainan in the last ten years.”
Due to the impact of Typhoon Yagi, all passenger trains arriving in and departing from Hainan Island are suspended from 5-7 September. Passenger and vehicle ferry services across the Qiongzhou Strait were suspended at midnight on 4 September and are expected to remain suspended through 8 September, HICN reported.🏝️
