Killer typhoon lashes China

ONE of the most powerful typhoons in years ripped into southern China yesterday after killing at least 10 people in the Philippines and injuring dozens more.

At least 11 people were injured in Hong Kong, mostly by flying debris, local media reported, while rescue helicopters braved strong winds and high seas to pluck 16 sailors from a container ship with a broken rudder.

Winds of up to 115 mph pounded the southern Chinese province of Guangdong as Typhoon Imbudo made landfall at noon near the city of Yangjiang, about 190 miles southwest of Hong Kong. The storm was moving northwest at about 28 kph.

“The wind was strongest when it hit land, as strong as gale force 12,” said an official at the Guangdong provincial weather bureau. “The rain is quite heavy.”

The semi-official China News Service reported that three people in Yangjiang were missing.

The Hong Kong Observatory said it was the strongest typhoon to hit Guangdong since Typhoon Sally devastated the province in 1996, killing 123 people and injuring 4,300.

An official at a Guangdong weather observatory said the storm was weakening as it moved toward Guangxi province.

Meteorologists on the island province of Hainan, south of Hong Kong, said the typhoon was the biggest to sweep by in a decade, but there were no immediate reports of casualties, the official Xinhua news agency said. Ships were called back to ports, more than 2,000 passengers were delayed after the cancellation of 32 flights, and 42 reservoirs were put on alert, Xinhua said without giving details.