Typhoon Ragasa bears down on southern China after killing 17 in Taiwan

HONG KONG/SHENZHEN — Typhoon Ragasa, the world's most powerful tropical cyclone this year, struck the southern Chinese city of Yangjiang on Wednesday after killing 17 people in Taiwan and lashing Hong Kong with ferocious winds and heavy rains. The typhoon was tracking towards Maoming, one of China's biggest oil refining cities, in Guangdong province. In Taiwan, 17 people were missing in the eastern Hualien county after a barrier lake overflowed and sent a wall of water into a town, while Ragasa brought Hong Kong to a standstill. More powerful typhoons are likely to hit southern China due to climate change, said Benjamin Horton, dean of the School of Energy and Environment at the City University of Hong Kong, after a summer of record-breaking rainfall. "The weather experienced in Hong Kong this summer is only a taste of what is to come," Horton said. Guangdong given red storm surge warning Officials in Taiwan are used to moving people out of potential danger zones swiftly as the island is frequently hit by typhoons, but many residents in the tourist town of Guangfu said they were given inWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times