China’s Tropical Resort Island Orders Evacuations as Typhoon Kajiki Nears

Officials on a popular resort island off China’s southern coast have evacuated more than 20,000 people, closed businesses and halted public transportation as Typhoon Kajiki bears down, the Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua reported Sunday.

Hainan, China’s only tropical beach destination, received more than 97 million visitors in 2024, according to the news agency. The closures affected Sanya, a city that has a population of more than 1 million and is known for its beachfront resorts.

The typhoon had maximum sustained winds of about 109 mph Sunday afternoon, equivalent to those of a Category 2 Atlantic hurricane, according to the U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center. It was expected to either make landfall on Hainan or pass nearby Sunday afternoon or evening, according to Xinhua.

Kajiki was forecast to make landfall in central or northern Vietnam on Monday, the Vietnamese state-run news media reported, and authorities planned to evacuate more than 586,000 people from four central provinces. Seven coastal provinces banned vessels from leaving shore early Sunday, state-run news media reported.

Vietnam Airlines, the country’s national carrier, announced in a post on social media Sunday that several domestic flights had been canceled, and warned that more flights could be affected Monday.

On Hainan Island, the Sanya Meteorological Observatory issued a red typhoon warning Sunday, the most severe of China’s four-tier warning system, The Global Times, a Communist Party-run newspaper, reported. The storm was forecast to bring lightning, torrential rain and gusts of up to 113 mph, it said.

Authorities have evacuated more than 20,000 people in Hainan and returned more than 30,000 fishing boats to ports, the People’s Daily newspaper reported.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.