Typhoon Saola makes landfall in southern China, less violent than expected

Europe 1 with AFP 15:24 pm, 02 September 2023

Typhoon Saola swept through southern China on Saturday morning, after uprooting trees and breaking windows in Hong Kong, where authorities continue to urge caution despite less strong winds than expected. China's National Meteorological Center said Saola, downgraded from a super typhoon to a severe typhoon, made landfall around 3:30 a.m. on Saturday (20:30 GMT Friday) south of the city of Zhuhai in Guangdong province.

Tens of millions of people in Hong Kong, Shenzhen and other major cities in southern China caulked at home Friday as Saola approached, which threatened to become the strongest typhoon to hit the region in decades. Nearly 900,000 people had been evacuated in two Chinese provinces before the typhoon arrived, hundreds of flights cancelled and trees uprooted from deserted streets battered by rains in Hong Kong, where the start of the school year has been postponed.

"The strongest typhoon since 1949"

The Hong Kong authorities had raised, late Friday, the alert to the maximum level T10, issued only 16 times since the Second World War, the meteorological services fearing that with its winds reaching 210 km / h, Saola is "the strongest typhoon since 1949" in this region. But when it finally made landfall on the night of Friday to Saturday, the alert level dropped back to T8 and the typhoon did not seem to have caused any casualties by early morning. The material damage, while significant, was much less extensive than that caused by Typhoon Mangkhut in 2018.

With gusts still reaching nearly 140 km / h, the authorities have asked residents to remain vigilant, and avoid the seaside. "Gusts of wind always affect some places (...). Precautions must not be relaxed yet," the Hong Kong Meteorological Observatory said at 8 a.m. local time (00 GMT).

>> READ ALSO - Saola, 'strongest' typhoon since 1949, threatens to hit southern China and Hong Kong

Risk of "severe flooding"

Window and shop windows of businesses and homes were protected Friday with duct tape, and entrances to office buildings near Victoria Harbour barricaded to try to prevent water from entering. In Hong Kong, AFP journalists saw many uprooted trees and collapsed scaffolding, and, despite the precautions taken, water coming out of the facades of some tall buildings close to the sea, while local media reported solar panels torn from roofs. In eastern Hong Kong, a resident told AFP she felt her building "swing a little" overnight.

"But in the end, we didn't feel that threatened," compared to the 2018 typhoon, which caused a disruption in the supply of water and electricity in some buildings, she concluded. In mainland China, Guangdong province suspended train traffic until Saturday evening. Shenzhen, one of the country's main economic centers with 17.7 million people, ordered the closure of offices, shops and markets and opened shelters for the population, and suspended public transport. Dozens of delivery drivers braved high winds and rain to supply residents in their homes.

"Far too many requests for deliveries"

"I will work until I feel it's too dangerous," Chai Jijie, 22, told AFP. "People don't want to go out but want to have provisions. There are a lot of requests for deliveries." Flooding is still feared in this region of the Pearl River Delta, a low-lying region prone to many storms, including Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou, and Guangdong Province.

Southern China is frequently hit by typhoons that form in the warm oceans east of the Philippines in summer and autumn and then move westward. Although they can temporarily disrupt activity in cities like Hong Kong and Macau, typhoons now cause far fewer casualties and damage, thanks to stricter building standards and better flood management systems. According to experts, climate change has increased the intensity of tropical storms, with more rainfall and stronger gusts leading to flash flooding and coastal damage.