China evacuates 400,000 as 'super typhoon' slams Philippines and Taiwan
Super Typhoon Ragasa registered 134mph winds.
China will evacuate hundreds of thousands after a "super typhoon" hit the Philippines and Taiwan.
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Super Typhoon Ragasa, advancing on southeastern China, is reaching 134mph winds.
Thousands have fled their homes in the Philippines and Taiwan, as 400,000 people have been told to evacuate in China.
The typhoon hit Panuitan Island off the Cagayan province on Monday with 183mph winds, said Filipino forecasters.
Some 8,200 were evacuated to safety in Cagayan.
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1,220 escaped to emergency shelters amid flash floods and landslide fears in Apayao.
Domestic flights have been suspended across northern provinces, while fishing boats and inter-island ferries were ordered to remain in port amid dangerous seas.
In Taiwan’s southern Taitung and Pingtung counties, officials announced closures in several coastal and mountain areas, including the Orchid and Green islands.
Authorities in Shenzhen, China’s southern tech hub, announced plans to relocate around 400,000 residents from low-lying and flood-prone zones.
Shenzhen’s airport also confirmed flights would be halted from Tuesday night.
Further up the southeast coast, Fujian province suspended 50 ferry routes in preparation for the storm.
The typhoon will make landfall between Shenzhen and Xuwen county in Guangdong province on Wednesday, China’s National Meteorological Centre forecast.
A tropical cyclone with sustained winds of 115mph or higher is classified in the Philippines as a super typhoon. The term was adopted to highlight the urgency of extreme weather threats.
Super Typhoon Ragasa was moving west across the South China Sea on Monday and is forecast to remain there until at least Wednesday, passing south of Taiwan and Hong Kong before making landfall on China’s mainland.
The Philippines’ weather bureau warned of "a high risk of life-threatening storm surge with peak heights exceeding three metres within the next 24 hours over the low-lying or exposed coastal localities" of Cagayan, Batanes, Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur.
Power outages were reported on Calayan Island and across the mountain province of Apayao, west of Cagayan, officials said
There were no immediate reports of casualties from Ragasa, which is known locally as Nando.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr suspended government work and all classes in the capital Manila and 29 northern provinces on Monday as the storm swept across Luzon.
