This photo taken on Sept 7, 2024 shows a view of Puqian township in Wenchang city, South China's Hainan province. - Photo: Xinhua
HAIKOU/ BEIJING: South China's island province of Hainan began gradually resuming maritime and air transportation after being struck by Typhoon Yagi, which left four dead and 95 injured.
According to the provincial transport department, Haikou Meilan International Airport in the provincial capital is expected to resume operations by noon on Sunday (Sept 8), while airports in the cities of Sanya and Bo'ao reopened on Saturday (Sept 7).
Seaports on the island are set to resume shipping, with a priority on cargo transport, starting at 1 pm Sunday.
The eastern section of Hainan's high-speed railway loop also resumed service at 11 am, while the western section, Haikou's city train service, and outbound railway services remain suspended.
The transport department has pledged to accelerate post-disaster recovery efforts to restore normalcy in production and daily life.
China's State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters on Saturday activated a Level-IV emergency response to flooding in Yunnan, and sent a working group to the province to provide guidance and support.
On the same day, the headquarters and the Ministry of Emergency Management (MEM) coordinated with the Ministry of Water Resources and other government organs to jointly instructed on the repair of damaged infrastructure, and to ensure aid is provided to the affected residents.
They also urged local efforts in the relocation and resettlement of affected residents, as well as the preparations for rescue operations.
The MEM has stressed the needs to prevent secondary disasters, improve rainfall forecast and early warning, and enhance information release to respond promptly to public concerns.
Yagi, the 11th typhoon of this year, made two landfalls in China on Friday, first striking Hainan and later Guangdong.
Chinese authorities earmarked 270 million yuan (about US$38.07 million) from the central natural disaster-relief funds to support rescue and relief work in regions hit by floods and typhoon. The emergency fund was jointly allocated by the Ministry of Finance and the MEM.
The fund was distributed to Hainan, Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan as Yagi has brought heavy rains and floods to these regions.
The fund will be used for local emergency rescue and disaster relief efforts, focusing on searching, rescuing and relocating residents affected by the disasters, detecting secondary disasters, and repairing damaged houses, among other tasks.
As of 3pm Saturday, Yagi has killed four people and injured 95 others in South China's Hainan province, local authorities said at a press conference on Saturday evening.
More than 526,000 people across Hainan have been affected by the typhoon, according to the provincial emergency management department.
Most areas in Hainan have been affected to varying degrees, resulting in losses to infrastructure, industries and agriculture, and impacting the production and lives of residents, according to the press conference.
So far, losses in highway facilities, water transportation, road transportation, civil aviation and ongoing transport projects across Hainan have climbed to a total of 728 million yuan (about $102.6 million).
Among these losses, 26 national and provincial trunk roads and 103 other highways, totaling more than 400 kilometers, have been damaged.
Waterway passenger stations and equipment have suffered severe damage, while airports and key, ongoing related construction projects have also incurred losses.
As of 5pm Saturday, the provincial capital of Haikou has evacuated some 105,500 residents due to the typhoon, and over 400 houses have collapsed and more than 32,000 houses have been damaged.
Over 167,800 trees in the city have been uprooted and 56,742 hectares of crops have been affected, resulting in direct economic losses of more than 26.3 billion yuan.
Notably, 17 townships of Wenchang, the city where the typhoon made its first landfall, suffered a direct hit, which has resulted in very severe disaster losses, said Wei Bo, deputy mayor of Wenchang.
Preliminary statistics show that more than 25,000 houses in the city were damaged and nearly one-third of the city's roads were impassable due to fallen trees.
Meanwhile, 65 percent of the city's 10KV power lines experienced power outages and 792 communication base stations were damaged with a power outage rate of 82.3 percent.
Out of Wenchang's 11 water plants, eight stopped water supply due to power outages. In Wenchang alone, the area of the affected crops reached about 270,000 mu (about 18,000 hectares), with about 160,000 mu completely destroyed.
The area of forest damage in the city reached about 48,100 hectares, accounting for 46 percent of its total forest coverage.
So far, the city's total economic loss caused by Yagi has notched up 32.7 billion yuan, according to Wei.
In order to rapidly restore the order after the disaster, by 6 pm Saturday, a total of 61,000 sanitation workers and 6,300 vehicles had been deployed across Hainan.
A total of 14,000 tonnes of garbage brought by the typhoon had been cleared and some 142,000 fallen trees across the province had been dealt with.
Currently, the operation of the province's eight waste-to-energy incineration power plants and 294 waste transfer stations remain stable, with ample capacity in the garbage storage facilities, ensuring that the increased volume of garbage due to the typhoon can be promptly disposed of.
In Guangdong province, Yagi had forced the relocation of 729,954 people by noon on Saturday, according to the provincial flood, drought and typhoon control authorities.
Yagi has also wreaked havoc in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, forcing the evacuation of about 60,000 residents.
As of 11 am on Saturday, over 107,000 households remained without power.
On Saturday morning, China's National Meteorological Center renewed its red alert -- its highest alert level -- for Yagi. - Xinhua
