A powerful typhoon that tore through the northern Philippines and Taiwan this week made landfall on China’s southern coast on Wednesday, after unleashing catastrophic flooding in eastern Taiwan that authorities said killed at least 17 people and left dozens missing. Officials across the region scrambled to move millions away from the storm’s expected path as wind-driven storm surge and torrential rain battered cities, ports and coastal communities.
The worst human toll from Ragasa was recorded in Hualien County on Taiwan’s east coast, where emergency services and local officials said a barrier lake overflowed after intense rainfall, sending a wall of water and mud through Guangfu Township and nearby areas. Local rescue teams reported at least 17 confirmed fatalities, scores injured, and multiple people unaccounted for; Premier Cho Jung-tai called for an inquiry into warnings and evacuation procedures as questions mounted about how quickly residents were moved to safety.
Images and video from the scene showed streets submerged in mud and silt, cars half-buried and homes inundated — a vivid reminder of how vulnerable hillside and river-valley communities are when extreme rainfall overwhelms natural and manmade water barriers. Taiwanese authorities reported widespread disruptions including power outages and flight cancellations as the storm passed.
After sweeping past Hong Kong — where officials reported hurricane-force gusts, seawater surges and dozens of injuries — Ragasa made landfall in Guangdong province, with Chinese weather services and news agencies placing its eye near Yangjiang and later Maoming. Provincial authorities ordered mass evacuations and suspended transport services: Chinese state media and international outlets reported that nearly two million people in the path of the storm had been moved to safer ground, while ports and refineries in the region prepared for severe coastal flooding.
China’s meteorological services issued rare red warnings for storm surge in parts of Guangdong, warning of waves several metres high along exposed stretches of coast. Emergency teams were dispatched, river-control and flood-response systems were activated, and refinery and industrial sites in oil-processing hubs were placed on heightened alert as Ragasa pushed inland.
Ragasa — described by meteorologists as one of the most intense tropical cyclones of 2025 — also battered the northern Philippines prior to reaching Taiwan, where maritime incidents and flash flooding were reported. Hong Kong’s observatory recorded extremely high winds and substantial coastal inundation, which brought parts of the city to a standstill and forced sheltering and temporary closures of services. International relief and weather agencies emphasized the role of climate-driven extremes in magnifying the storm’s impacts.
The cascading sequence — heavy rain triggering a barrier-lake breach in Taiwan, mass evacuations in Guangdong, and repeated storm surge warnings — highlights the compound risks communities face from intense tropical cyclones: wind damage, freshwater flooding, and coastal inundation can strike simultaneously, overwhelming local response capacity.
Local and national governments in the affected countries moved quickly to mobilize rescue teams, open emergency shelters and allocate funds for immediate relief. In Taiwan, authorities have pledged investigations into the circumstances of the barrier lake overflow and whether earlier warnings or evacuations could have reduced casualties. In southern China, officials said they would sustain flood-control efforts as Ragasa weakened over land but continued to produce heavy rain inland.
International aid groups and regional partners are monitoring the situation and standing by to assist if requested. For now, the immediate priorities remain search-and-rescue, restoring critical services, and assessing damage to infrastructure and homes — a process that will determine much of the recovery timeline for communities already hit hard by the storm.
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