Beijing — Super Typhoon Yagi, Asia’s most powerful storm this year, churned toward the northern coast of Vietnam on Saturday after tearing through China’s southern island province of Hainan and leaving two people dead.

The lightning, rain and violent winds that hit Hainan also caused 92 to be injured, Chinese state media said on Saturday, citing local authorities.

Yagi made landfall in Hainan on Friday, packing maximum sustained winds of 234 kph near its center, downing trees and flooding roads. Power supply to more than 800,000 homes was cut.

The island province of more than 10 million people remained in a state of paralysis, with emergency workers only starting to clear debris, uprooted trees and overturned vehicles.

Yagi formed over the sea to the east of the Philippine archipelago on Sept. 1. Gaining strength, it became a tropical storm and swept across Luzon, the most populous island in the Philippines, killing at least 16 people and injuring 13.

The storm grew dramatically stronger late in the week, becoming the world’s most powerful tropical cyclone in 2024 after the Category 5 Atlantic hurricane Beryl, and the most severe in the Pacific basin this year.

On Saturday morning, Yagi was spinning toward northern Vietnam over the Gulf of Tonkin.

Maximum wind speeds that had slightly eased earlier on Saturday picked up pace again, reaching Category 4 velocities of 216 kph, according to Chinese meteorological authorities.
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