Howling winds and rain leaves in the city of Zhuhai in China

The sound of rush hour in Zhuhai on the southern coast of China was replaced by howling winds and rain leaves.

The branches of the falling trees and what looked like metal pieces on the edge of a building stolen along the empty roads on Wednesday while the Typhon Ragasa was going.

Police vehicles have patrolled in the streets with megaphones, urging people to stay inside – but it is difficult to hear them over 100 mph gusts (160 km / h). However, the thunderous sky and a soaked zhuhai are enough for a warning – apart from an occasional cyclist, determined to go to work, most people responded to the advice, bringing this city of nearly three million people to stop.

The strongest storm that the world has seen this year, Ragasa crossed the Southern China Sea after defeating the Philippines and Taiwan. At least 15 people died in east of Taiwan after a mountain lake broke out, said officials.

While the storm passed in front of Hong Kong, steep waves crashed on earth, flooding the coastal areas, alongside powerful winds and rain, leaving more than 60 people injured.

He trained the arter 5:00 p.m. Local time (09:00 GMT). At that time, nearly two million people in the densely populated province of Guangdong, which houses Zhuhai, had already been evacuated. Officials also issued a red alert for high tides and coastal overvoltages.

As the eye of the storm was walking near the continent, the rain struck the large buildings of the city. The wind, already strong, strikes stronger by waves and explosions, which made the standing position almost impossible. Even looking from the inside, the windows of our new hotel have grinned under tension.

This hotel also welcomes some of those who have been evacuated from low zones from this province. Families throw themselves, with the few possessions they have been able to grasp for the night, while their children dance in the corridors – maybe just happy to have the day off.

Zhuhai is a popular tourist place, with golf stations and themed parks. Perched on a delta where the Pearl river meets the Southern China Sea, it is used at typhoons, and it was prepared for it.

Households have recorded their windows, as companies had sandbags delivered to put their doors to prevent coastal overvoltages from infiltrating their properties.

There was no panic, just resignation. We were told that the district surveillance officers had gone to the door to the door of residents and local stores to ensure that they compared to evacuation orders. We only found some dissatisfied who did not want to close their restaurant too early and lose more business hours.

There are hundreds of evacuation centers across the city. The police patrols had also started early, with police officers posted at the corners of the street and the beaches to prevent the inhabitants curious from approaching too much of the waves. Local workers were quickly sent to reduce the wandering branches of the trees.

The authorities in China had a lot of practice to prepare for disasters. They take the warnings very seriously. They fear the criticism, which occurred during the previous natural disasters, that they did not do enough to ensure the safety of people.

Now warnings come a few days before the typhoon closed.

During the weekend, even before Ragasa struck the Philippines, the Guangdong Meteorological Department – a hub for Chinese manufacturing – began to tell the people of the province to prepare for a “catastrophic catastrophe”. Chinese state media described this as a rare warning.

The officials know that there will be more like that. The country’s meteorological experts have previously struck the alarm that typhoons have become more intense in China.

But these are not only typhoons.

It was an extreme year of time for the country – heat waves, storms, droughts, floods and ruin harvests.

The Typhon Ragasa was another test for the preparation of China. And it’s not over yet. There are still alerts for heavy rains in the coming days and warnings of landslides in mountainous areas.