The fierce Typhoon Matmo recently struck southern China, leaving a trail of disrupted travel and prompting mass evacuations of more than 151,000 people. Authorities are now grappling with fears of extensive flooding in its wake.
An image accompanied the article, showing men in black uniforms preparing for Typhoon Matmo at an airport in Hainan Province on Saturday. The photo was credited to Luo Yunfei/China News Service/VCG, via Getty Images.
As Sunday morning unfolded, Matmo churned across the South China Sea, boasting maximum sustained winds of 104 miles per hour—a force comparable to a Category 2 storm in the Atlantic. The U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center provided these details.
By Sunday afternoon, the storm had made landfall in Guangdong Province, and while it’s expected to gradually lose strength as it pushes inland towards Guangxi Province, forecasters are still sounding alarms. They predict that parts of the region could be deluged with 10 to 12 inches of rain through Monday afternoon, significantly elevating the risk of dangerous floods.
Guangdong and Guangxi, bustling southern provinces, are home to nearly 180 million residents. Nearby, Hainan Province, a popular resort island about the size of Maryland, is also in Matmo’s path. The typhoon’s arrival coincides with China’s annual Oct. 1 National Day celebrations, a period typically marked by extensive shopping and travel.
An interactive graphic (formerly available) provided a visual track of Typhoon Matmo, detailing its projected path and estimated wind arrival times, offering crucial information for emergency preparedness.
In response to the approaching storm, Chinese officials issued a red alert, the highest level in their four-tier typhoon warning system for coastal areas.
China Central Television, a state-run broadcaster, reported that by Saturday evening, over 151,000 individuals had been safely evacuated from Guangdong alone.
Further measures were taken in Guangdong’s city of Zhanjiang, where expressways were shut down and some ferry services connecting to Hong Kong were suspended. Hong Kong, a Chinese territory, lies to the east of Guangdong.
On Hainan, the provincial government mandated the suspension of classes and various transportation services. Flight tracking services indicated that approximately 60 flights to and from the island’s international airport were cancelled by early Sunday afternoon.
Meanwhile, in Guangxi, tens of thousands of tourists were evacuated, and several popular tourist destinations were temporarily closed.
The typhoon’s trajectory suggests it could also bring significant rainfall, powerful winds, and potential flooding to northern parts of Vietnam by late Sunday, according to the country’s meteorological service.
Just last week, Matmo had already wreaked havoc on Luzon, the most densely populated island in the Philippines. It forced thousands to flee a region still recovering from a devastating 6.9-magnitude earthquake that claimed at least 72 lives and injured around 300 others.
This marks Matmo as the second major storm to impact the area within a span of less than two weeks. In late September, Typhoon Ragasa swept through the Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and mainland China, causing 18 fatalities and dozens of injuries. During that event, authorities in Guangdong Province carried out an even larger evacuation, moving over a million people to safety.