Typhoon makes landfall in China
HONG KONG — A powerful typhoon slammed into southern China today after skirting Hong Kong and bringing death and widespread flooding to the Philippines earlier this week.
Typhoon Nesat made landfall on the eastern tip of China’s Hainan island at 2:30 p.m. local time, packing winds as high as 94 miles an hour, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
The storm blew down trees and flooded streets as it moved across Hainan, photos on state media showed. Flood control officials said nearly 58,000 people were evacuated from low-lying areas in eastern Wenchang city and 67 flights were canceled at the island’s two airports, Xinhua said.
Hainan authorities closed schools, suspended ferry services and recalled fishing boats as the storm made its way across the South China Sea from the Philippines, where it killed 35 people and left another 45 missing.
The storm swept past Hong Kong earlier in the day, forcing the stock market to suspend trading and shops and businesses to close but causing little damage.
At Hong Kong’s airport, 245 flights were delayed, 20 were canceled and 22 diverted to other airports by 3 p.m.
The National Meteorological Center reported that fishing boats were in port and schools along the coast had been shut in advance of the typhoon, which is the 17th and likely the strongest to hit Hainan this year.
Nesat left devastation in the Philippines, triggering some of the worst flooding in downtown Manila in decades.
Floodwaters were receding in most places, but many low-lying communities in the north remained in crisis.
Mayor Santiago Austria of the rice-farming town of Jaen in Nueva Ecija province appealed to the government for help, saying many people in his community of 63,000 needed to be rescued but that officials there had only four rescue boats.
“Many people here are still on top of their houses. We don’t have enough boats to reach them and hand them food,” Austria said.
