YANGJIANG, China (AFP)-Fierce winds, pounding rain and rough seas battered southern China on Wednesday as powerful Typhoon Ragasa made landfall in Guangdong province after killing at least 14 in Taiwan.

Ragasa churned into Guangdong, home to tens of millions of people, with winds up to 145 kilometres per hour (90 miles per hour).

AFP journalists at the impact point in the city of Yangjiang saw flying debris and gusts ripping advertisements off buildings.

The typhoon had hours earlier swept past Hong Kong, with the densely populated city’s weather service ranking the storm the strongest yet in the northwestern Pacific this year.

Ragasa’s passage in Taiwan killed at least 14 and injured 46 when a decades-old barrier lake burst in eastern Hualien county, according to regional officials who late Wednesday revised the death toll down from 17 after eliminating duplicate cases.

Authorities initially said 152 people were unaccounted for, but later made contact with more than 100 of them and were still trying to confirm the actual number of missing.

Sheltering

Around 1,200 people were preparing to spend a second night in shelters after the flood.

“Comfortable or not … being safe is enough, it doesn’t matter where we sleep,” Kaniw ‧ Looh, a church elder, 64, told AFP.

More than 7,600 people were evacuated due to Ragasa and footage released by the fire agency showed flooded streets, half-submerged cars and uprooted trees.

Authorities across mainland China ordered businesses and schools to shut down in at least 10 cities across the nation’s south, affecting tens of millions of people.

Nearly 2.2 million people across Guangdong had been relocated as of 4 pm Wednesday (0800 GMT), state news agency Xinhua said.

The storm made landfall along the coast of Hailing Island, near Yangjiang city around 5 pm, Chinese meteorologists said.

Ferocious winds destroyed fences and downed trees, scattering branches on the ground.

The normally busy Yangjiang train station stood empty, with rail travel suspended Wednesday across Guangdong.

For several hours, the powerful typhoon shook buildings as sheets of rain poured down on the city.

Fire trucks drove through mostly deserted streets as winds whipped branches along the road and toppled motorbikes parked along the pavement.

Chinese authorities earmarked the equivalent of about $49.2 million to support rescue and relief work in regions hit by Typhoon Ragasa, Xinhua said.