BEIJING, Typhoon Wipha has battered China with fierce weather conditions on Sunday as a powerful storm brushed past Hong Kong, triggering widespread disruption. On Monday, storms drenched southern parts of the Chinese mainland, prompting warnings of flash floods and landslides, a day after Typhoon Wipha pounded Hong Kong.
The tempest brought down trees and scaffolding, grounded dozens of flights, and forced nearly 280 residents into emergency shelters.
Heavy rain lashed the cities of Yangjiang, Zhanjiang and Maoming in China’s southern province of Guangdong after the storm system made landfall on Sunday evening.
On Sunday, it brushed past Hong Kong, where it felled trees and scaffolding, grounded flights and sent nearly 280 people into shelters.
China’s national forecaster said it had weakened to a tropical storm upon landfall, and forecast it to skirt the coast of Guangdong and move southwesterly towards Vietnam.
Heavy rain is forecast for mainland Chinese coastal regions, including Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, and Fujian, until Tuesday morning, with warnings of flash floods, landslides, and wind hazards.
The system will move into the Gulf of Tonkin late Monday morning, over which it will gather intensity before hitting Vietnam’s northern coast on Tuesday, the forecaster said.