Typhoon Saola made landfall in southern China before dawn Saturday after nearly 900,000 people were moved to safety and parts of the coastal mainland suspended business, transport and classes. It was weakening as it moved in a southwesterly direction along the Guangdong coast at a speed of around 17 kilometers (10 miles) per hour. On Friday, 780,000 people in Guangdong were moved away from areas at risk as did 100,000 others in neighboring Fujian province. Saola passed just south of Taiwan on Wednesday before turning toward mainland China, with its outer bands hitting the island’s southern cities with torrential rain. The typhoon also lashed the Philippines earlier this week, displacing tens of thousands of people in the northern part of the islands because of flooding.

Source: The Standard September 02, 2023 21:05 UTC