A super typhoon that caused thousands of people to evacuate from northern Philippine villages and left at least three people dead is now making its way towards Hong Kong, the southern parts of mainland China, and Taiwan, where people are preparing for more extreme weather.
In Hong Kong, officials warned of a “serious threat” from Super Typhoon Ragasa, comparing the risk with some of the most destructive storms in the city’s recent history.
“Ragasa will pose a serious threat to Hong Kong, which could reach the levels of Hato in 2017 and Mangkhut in 2018,” Hong Kong’s number-two official Eric Chan said on Monday, referring to two super typhoons that each caused significant damage.
Ragasa was generating winds with maximum sustained speeds of 220 kilometres per hour (137 miles per hour) at its centre as it churned across the South China Sea early on Tuesday, according to Hong Kong’s weather service.
Hong Kong’s airport will remain open, but there will be “significant disruption to flight operations” from 6pm (10:00 GMT) on Tuesday until the next day, the airport authority said.
More than 500 Cathay Pacific flights are expected to be cancelled.
Reporting from Hong Kong, Al Jazeera’s Laura Westbrook said the city’s weather forecasters predict the weather will “rapidly deteriorate” later on Tuesday.
Westbrook explained that forecasters are also expected to raise the typhoon signal to eight, the third-highest signal, where “a lot of businesses will shut down as well as transportation.
“People have been preparing for this typhoon. I was talking to some residents earlier, they’ve been stockpiling food, trying to make sure they have enough supplies for the next two days as this city shuts down,” Westbrook added.
In Taiwan, the state weather service predicted “extremely torrential rain” in the country’s east.
“Its storm radius is quite large, about 320 [kilometres, or 200 miles]. Although the typhoon’s centre is still some distance away, its wide, strong wind field and outer circulation are already affecting parts of Taiwan,” it said.
Officials in Shenzhen, the southern Chinese tech hub, planned to evacuate about 400,000 people, including residents living in low-lying and flood-prone areas. Shenzhen’s airport said it would halt flights starting Tuesday night.
China’s National Meteorological Centre forecast the typhoon would make landfall in the coastal area between Shenzhen city and Xuwen county in Guangdong province on Wednesday.
Protests over non-existent flood controls in the Philippines
Ragasa, which is known locally as Nando, forced the evacuation of several villages in the northern Philippines on Monday, a day after thousands of people took to the streets to protest alleged corruption over non-existent flood control projects.
At least three people are dead, and five others are missing due to flooding and landslides caused by the storm, disaster-response agency and provincial officials said.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr suspended government work and all classes in the capital, Manila, and 29 provinces in the main northern Luzon region, on Monday.
Power was knocked out on Calayan Island and in the entire northern mountain province of Apayao, disaster-response officials said, as the super typhoon caused wind gusts of up to 295km/h (183mph) in some areas.
More than 8,200 people were evacuated to safety in Cagayan province, which includes Calayan, while 1,220 fled to emergency shelters in Apayao, which is prone to flash floods and landslides.
Domestic flights were suspended in northern provinces lashed by the typhoon, while fishing boats and inter-island ferries were prohibited from leaving ports due to rough seas.
On Calayan Island, at the storm’s centre, information officer Herbert Singun told the AFP news agency that chunks of a school roof had been ripped off and landed on an evacuation centre about 30 metres (100 feet) away, causing one minor injury.
“Can you see those coconut trees swaying in the distance?” he asked during a video chat. “There were eight of them before. Now only four are still standing. That goes to show how strong this typhoon is.”
Scientists have warned that climate change is making tropical storms more intense, causing stronger winds and more flooding.
Ragasa, the 14th weather disturbance to batter the Philippines this year, comes as authorities and both chambers of Congress investigate a corruption scandal involving alleged kickbacks that resulted in substandard or non-existent flood control projects.
Thousands of people took to the streets on Sunday to protest the scandal involving an estimated 118.5 billion pesos ($2bn) in projects, even as the typhoon affected the weather.
