Typhoon Saola swept through southern China on Saturday morning, September 2, after uprooting trees and breaking windows in Hong Kong, with winds however less violent 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. (20:30 GMT Friday) south of the city of Zhuhai in Guangdong province.

Hong Kong authorities had raised the alert level from T8 to T9 late Friday, then to T10, the maximum, issued only 16 times since World War II. At 3:40 (20:40 GMT), after more than seven hours under Q10, Hong Kong moved to the T8 level. But with gusts of up to 139 km/h, authorities have asked residents to remain vigilant.

Tens of millions of people caulked

"Gusts of wind always affect some places... Precautions should not be relaxed yet," the Hong Kong Meteorological Observatory said at 8 a.m. local time (midnight GMT).

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Tens of millions of people in Hong Kong, Shenzhen and other major cities in southern China were caulked at home as Saola approached, which threatened to become the most powerful to hit the region in decades.

More than 880,000 people were evacuated in two Chinese provinces before the typhoon arrived, hundreds of flights were cancelled and trees were already uprooted from deserted streets and battered by rains in Hong Kong, where the start of the school year was postponed.

"Saola could become the strongest typhoon since 1949 to hit the Pearl River Delta," which includes several major cities such as Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Macau, the National Meteorological Center predicted on Weibo.

Stock exchange and closed offices

Window and display windows of businesses and homes had been protected Friday, September 1 with duct tape, while office buildings near Victoria Harbour barricaded entrances in an attempt to prevent water from entering.

The Hong Kong Airport Authority announced the cancellation of more than 300 flights on Friday. The stock market announced the cancellation of "morning trading sessions for all markets".

Shenzhen, one of the country's main economic centers, ordered the closure of offices, shops and markets and opened shelters for the population. All public transport in the city of 17.7 million people stopped service in the evening, while trains to and from Guangzhou were suspended until 18 p.m. on Saturday.

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Dozens of delivery drivers braved high winds and rain to reach residents sheltering in their homes. "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."

Increasingly intense storms

"There could be severe flooding" in eastern coastal areas, said the meteorological observatory, which considers possible water levels similar to those caused by Typhoon Mangkhut in 2018. More than 300 people were injured in Hong Kong. In mainland China, it affected more than three million people in the southern provinces, killing six people.

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.

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.

With AFP

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