The Asian financial hub of Hong Kong and the Chinese province of Guangdong cancelled hundreds of flights and evacuated nearly 800,000 people Friday as the imminent arrival of Typhoon Saola forced closures of businesses, schools and financial markets.
Packing winds of around 200 kph (125 mph), the super typhoon could make landfall late on Friday or early on Saturday in Guangdong, and rate among the five strongest to hit the populous province since 1949, authorities have warned.
Across Guangdong, 785,155 people had been evacuated from high-risk areas, while 13 cities delayed the start of the school term on Friday following the summer break.
In Hong Kong, more than 300 people were stranded at the airport by the cancellation of about 460 flights as the city of 7.5 million people raised its hurricane warning to the highest level.
“It’s very sad for me because I am not able to attend my daughter’s oath-taking,” said a tearful Ledenila Barizo, 54, who had been due to fly to the Philippines, as she paced in front of the airline desk.
The weather will deteriorate rapidly as the typhoon makes landfall, Hong Kong weather officials said, with storm surges of about 3 metres (10 feet) higher than the normal tide and maximum water levels reaching a record.
Weather authorities in China have said Saola could make landfall along the coast between the cities of Huidong and Taishan. Hong Kong and Macau lie in the centre of that stretch.
Saola is one of three tropical cyclones to have formed in the northwest Pacific Ocean and South China Sea. The second, Haikui, is approaching Taiwan, and is set to hit the island on Sunday before heading towards China’s province of Fujian.
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