Taiwan lake bursts as year’s strongest storm barrels towards China

Two people have died in eastern Taiwan and scores more are trapped or missing after a super typhoon caused a mountain lake to burst its banks, fire officials said.

The barrier lake, formed by previous landslides, broke on Tuesday afternoon, sending water surging into the nearby township of Guangfu in Hualien county.

Rescuers from across Taiwan are heading to the area. Super Typhoon Ragasa is the strongest storm of 2025 and is now bearing down on China’s southern coast.

It is due to make landfall in Guangdong province on Wednesday, where some 370,000 people have been evacuated, and many schools and businesses shut. Hong Kong has upgraded its typhoon warning to level 10, the maximum level.

Ragasa – equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane – packed wind gusts of up to 285km/h (177mph) at its highest point on Monday, and has triggered warnings of floods, storm surges and landslides across the region this week.

Taiwan has been lashed by the outside edge of Ragasa since Monday. The island recorded almost 60cm (24 inches) of rain in its east due to the typhoon, Reuters news agency reported.

In Hualien county the burst lake washed away a bridge, uprooted trees and submerged cars. Video showed fast-moving water flowing through the area.

“In some places, water temporarily rose as high as the second floor of a house and was about [as high as] one floor in the town centre, where the water has been receding,” Lee Lung-sheng, deputy chief of Hualien County Fire Department, told AFP news agency.

“About 263 people were trapped and moved up to higher ground when the river suddenly rose. They are not in immediate danger, but they are very worried about the high water.”

Elsewhere in Taiwan six people were injured, ferry services suspended and more than 100 international flights cancelled as Ragasa passed through.

Chinese authorities are warning of storm surges of up to five metres. Some 370,000 people have been evacuated so far in Guangdong, as authorities warn of a “catastrophic” situation.

On Tuesday, supermarket shelves in Hong Kong were wiped empty of fresh bread, vegetables, meat and instant noodles as residents prepared to hunker down.

Hong Kong International Airport said it expected “significant disruption to flight operations” from 18:00 local time (10:00 GMT) on Tuesday until the next day.

More than 500 Cathay Pacific flights are expected to be cancelled, while Hong Kong Airlines said it would stop all departures from the city.

Ragasa has been dubbed the “King of Storms” by China’s meteorological agency and is expected to move towards northern Vietnam in the coming days, potentially affecting millions.

In cities across southern China, shop owners piled sandbags in front of their stores in preparation for the storm’s arrival, with residents in low-lying areas next to the sea front particularly worried about tidal surges.

Many have also taped up the windows of their homes and businesses, hoping to prevent their destruction.

Although this part of southern China and Hong Kong is used to frequent typhoons, the impact this time may be worsened because of the location of the storm.

The right hand side of Ragasa – as it approaches Hong Kong and Guangdong – is know as the “dirty side” – and it is this which will hit the region. The “dirty side” can be much more destructive than the left-hand side, primarily because the motion of the storm is added to the background circulation of the typhoon.

Where these two movements combine is where the most destructive winds are found. Additionally, these winds will be pushing water inland, resulting in a bigger storm surge.

It is not yet clear exactly how much climate change has affected Ragasa specifically. But a warming world is expected to make tropical storms like typhoons and hurricanes more intense on average, according to UN scientists.

That means higher wind speeds, heavier rainfall and a higher risk of coastal flooding, although the number of typhoons across east and southeast Asia may decrease in future.

Ragasa also lashed through a remote island in the north of the Philippines on Monday, killing at least one person as thousands of families were evacuated before the storm made landfall.

Schools and government offices were shut in large parts of the country, including in the capital Manila.

Ragasa would “pose a serious threat” to Hong Kong, said Eric Chan, the city’s Chief Secretary for Administration, comparing it to two other typhoons which left behind trails of severe destruction.

Super typhoon Mangkhut in 2018 – to date the most intense typhoon to strike the city – injured 200 people, sank ships and wrecked infrastructure, with the weather agency estimating economic losses of HK$4.6bn ($592m: £438m).

In 2017, typhoon Hato unleashed serious flooding and injured more than 100 people in the city.

With additional reporting by Kelly Ng in Singapore, Simon Fraser in London, Mark Poynting, climate reporter and BBC Weather’s Sarah Keith-lucas