Typhoon Saola makes landfall in Hongkong

Hongkong: Typhoon Saola has made landfall in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong as violent winds lashed nearby Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macau, leaving at least one dead.

Chinese authorities said Saola had made landfall in Guangdong’s Zhuhai city with winds slowing to about 160km/h (99mph) and was expected to weaken further as it moved along China’s southern coastline.

Railway operations in Guangdong were allowed to gradually resume from 8:30am (00:30 GMT) local time, the railway operator said.

Another storm, Haikui, was gradually moving toward eastern China. Coupled with the influence of Saola, parts of Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang provinces will experience strong winds and heavy rains, the meteorological administration said.

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.

(With Inputs from Agencies)