Typhoon Yagi Nears Southern China With Heavy Rain and Strong Winds

Typhoon Yagi moved toward southern China on Thursday packing heavy rain and strong winds, closing schools and business, and disrupting travel.

The storm had maximum sustained winds of about 150 miles per hour on Thursday, equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane, according to the U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center. It was about 350 miles east of the county of Xuwen, in Guangdong Province, China’s National Meteorological Center said.

The storm was forecast to make landfall on Friday evening near Guangdong and Hainan provinces after moving west over the South China Sea. It is expected to become the strongest typhoon to affect Hainan since 2014, the center said.

Yagi formed as a tropical cyclone on Sunday in the Philippine Sea. In the Philippines, it dumped about 10 inches of rain this week, killing at least 13 people, displacing tens of thousands and damaging hundreds of homes, according to the Philippine government.

The China Meteorological Administration warned residents of a risk of floods and storm surges and raised the emergency response to the second-highest level. Guangdong Province issued the highest-level emergency warning.

Some towns in Hainan were expected to receive more than four inches of rain in the next 24 hours, the provincial meteorological bureau said on Thursday. The province suspended all trains and boats on Thursday, and canceled all flights that had been scheduled at Haikou Meilan International Airport from Thursday evening to Friday night.

Haikou, the capital of the island province of Hainan, ordered all nonessential services, businesses, public transportation, markets, schools and construction sites closed on Thursday. The authorities in Zhanjiang, a city in Guangdong, ordered similar closures ahead of the storm’s arrival.

The storm was expected to skirt Hong Kong, a Chinese territory, on Thursday night and Friday. The Hong Kong Observatory urged residents to stay away from the shore, refrain from outdoor activities and move small ships to shelters.

Hong Kong authorities closed all kindergartens and many schools on Thursday. Hong Kong Express, a budget airline, said that it had canceled six flights that had been scheduled for Thursday and