The Chinese city of Shenzhen will evacuate 400,000 people ahead of Super Typhoon Ragasa.

Beijing, Sep 23 (EFE) - The southeastern Chinese city of Shenzhen announced plans to evacuate some 400,000 people ahead of the approach of Super Typhoon Ragasa, which local authorities say could be the worst-hitting typhoon in the city since 2018. Emergency measures have already been activated, including the closure of the airport, the halting of trains, and the suspension of classes.

The local government announced that all primary, secondary, and kindergarten schools will remain closed from Tuesday to Wednesday, while the international airport will suspend operations today starting at 8:00 p.m. local time (12:00 GMT).

The airport manager, the fourth busiest in China, said that once the cyclone's influence subsides on Wednesday, he will coordinate with air traffic control and airlines to gradually reopen the airport.

Likewise, trains to and from the city of more than 17 million people will be progressively canceled starting Tuesday at noon and will not resume service until Thursday.

Authorities warned that Ragasa, which strengthened to super typhoon strength on Sunday, could become the most impactful typhoon in Shenzhen since 2018, packing winds of up to 260 km/h and 300 millimeters of accumulated rainfall, triggering additional emergency measures to bolster safety.

Experts warned of added risks due to the coincidence with high tides, which increases the threat of severe flooding in low-lying areas.

Similar measures to suspend classes, work, and transportation are in place across Guangdong province, including Pearl River Delta cities such as Zhuhai, Dongguan, and Zhongshan. As of Monday afternoon, maritime authorities had ordered the docking of more than 10,000 ships and the suspension of nearly 400 ferry routes, in addition to reinforcing port and road infrastructure.

China maintains a national emergency response, deploying more than 30,000 personnel to secure supplies and respond to potential rescues. Ragasa is the 18th Pacific storm of the year and is forecast to make landfall Wednesday on the central or western coast of Guangzhou before weakening as it moves inland.

Freak

National Meteorological Center forecaster Wang Qie, quoted by local press, explained that Ragasa "has a wide range of winds and great intensity" and that its extreme strength is due to the superposition of several factors: it formed last Thursday in waters east of the Philippines with temperatures above 29 degrees and a deep warm layer that acted as an "energy reserve" for its "continued intensification."

The southwest monsoon and easterly flows converged in the area, bringing abundant moisture and atmospheric instability, fostering "persistent convection," Wang noted.

Typhoons are common in southeastern China and Taiwan during the summer and autumn seasons, when the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean foster the formation of cyclones that occasionally cause damage and disruption to transportation and economic activities.

The current typhoon season in China has been marked by phenomena such as Wipha, which brought heavy rains and forced evacuations in the south, and Wutip, which affected more than 180,000 people in Guangzhou after a delay of more than two months compared to the usual start of this period, attributed by experts to unusual high pressure patterns and changes in the monsoon. EFE gbm/rrt

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