Ragasa super typhoon live: China evacuates two million people as world’s strongest storm nears landfall

China has evacuated 1.9 million people so far in Guangdong province, local authorities say.

The province is an economic powerhouse and home to more than 125 million people.

The national weather agency forecast the super typhoon would make landfall between the cities of Yangjiang and Zhanjiang this evening.

Schools, factories and transit services were suspended in about a dozen cities.

Taiwan premier Cho Jung-tai has called for an inquiry into what went wrong with evacuation orders in an eastern county where flooding from a breached mountain lake killed 14, as fresh warnings spooked residents.

Sub-tropical Taiwan, frequently hit by typhoons, normally has a well-oiled disaster mechanism that averts mass casualties by moving people out of potential danger zones quickly.

But many residents in Guangfu, an inundated town in the beauty spot of Hualien thronged by tourists, said there was insufficient warning when the lake overflowed during yesterday’s torrential rains brought by Super Typhoon Ragasa.

The premier said the immediate priority was to find 129 people still missing, but questions remained.

“For the 14 who have tragically passed away, we must investigate why evacuation orders were not carried out in the designated areas,” he told reporters in Guangfu.

“This is not about assigning blame, but about uncovering the truth.”

The barrier lake, formed by landslides triggered by earlier heavy rain in the island’s sparsely populated east, burst its banks to send a wall of water into Guangfu.

Super Typhoon Ragasa is nearing the Chinese coast after battering Taiwan and the Philippines, as it continues to maintain its monstrous strength.

The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 200kmph and gusts of up to 250kmph early this morning, according to the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

The storm’s eye was located about 130km south-southwest of Hong Kong as it continued its churn along the southern Chinese coastline at 17kmph.

Forecasts suggest Ragasa will weaken gradually as it heads west towards the coast but gale- to storm-force winds are expected to persist through the day.

Regions across Taiwan have dispatched rescue teams to Hualien, with the military sending 340 troops to help.

In Guangfu, soldiers operating from an armoured personnel carrier to avoid the thick mud on the streets went door-to-door handing out water and instant noodles.

Resources were insufficient to help relocate those with disabilities, said Lamen Panay, a Hualien councillor, who added that government evacuation requests before the flood had not been mandatory.

“When warnings were issued, the central and local government said people could evacuate vertically, but what we were facing wasn’t something ‘vertical evacuation’ could resolve,” she said, referring to guidance for people to head to higher floors.

In Guangfu, the Taiwanese town where the lake burst killing 14 people, some 5,200 people or nearly 60 per cent of the population had been told to seek shelter – either on the upper floors of their homes or to the homes of friends and relatives.

Soldiers in armoured carriers delivered water and food as streets became choked with mud.

Councillor Lamen Panay criticised the evacuation orders, saying that advice to “evacuate vertically” was not enough to withstand such a surge.

A barrier lake in Taiwan’s mountainous east burst its banks during Super Typhoon Ragasa, sending a wall of water through Guangfu township.

The lake had formed after days of landslides triggered by torrential rain. When it overflowed on yesterday afternoon, an estimated 60 million tonnes of water tore through homes, vehicles and bridges in Hualien county.

The water hit like a “tsunami,” a local postman Hsieh, who fled to the second floor of his post office as floodwaters surged, told Reuters news agency. Later, he got home to find his car had been swept into the living-room.

Entire villages were left cut off. At least 14 people have died and 124 are missing, officials said.

At least 14 people have been killed and 124 remain missing after a barrier lake in Taiwan burst its banks following torrential rains from Super Typhoon Ragasa, officials said.

The lake, formed by landslides in Hualien county after downpours, sent a wall of water crashing into Guangfu township yesterday.

“As of 7am Wednesday, 14 people are confirmed dead and 18 were reported injured,” Lee Kuan-ting, a county press official, said.

Taiwan’s fire department said search teams were still trying to locate 124 missing residents.

The outer rim of Ragasa has battered Taiwan since Monday, while the storm also killed at least three people in the northern Philippines and forced thousands into evacuation shelters.