South China recovering from Hato, likely to face new typhoon

Volunteers of Women's General Association of Macao clean a road in Macao, south China, Aug. 24, 2017. Bringing heavy gusts and rainstorms, Hato destroyed more than 4,000 trees in Macao on Wednesday. (Xinhua)

On Thursday, parts of south China were recovering from the country's strongest typhoon of the year, which has left at least 16 people dead and three missing.

Typhoon Hato blew past Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and weakened into Yunnan Province Thursday, nearly 20 hours after it made landfall with full force in Guangdong Province and wreaked havoc in Macao.

In Guangdong, traffic and power supply are resuming. Train and ferry services were starting to be restored late Wednesday and efforts continued on Thursday.

The provincial government said 6,425 houses collapsed and 50,000 hectares of farmland sustained damage.

More than 2.7 million households had their electricity supply disrupted, but three quarters had power back by Thursday, according to China Southern Power Grid.

Three coastal nuclear power stations remain unharmed.

In neighboring Guangxi, three quarters of the 611,000 households who experienced blackouts now have power back.

However, the region might face another onslaught soon. According to Guangdong provincial meteorological bureau, a new typhoon has formed and was spotted in the Pacific some 620 km east of the Philippines capital Manila as of 8 p.m. Thursday.

The typhoon is forecast to move northwest at 20 km per hour towards the coast of Guangdong. Though slightly weaker than Hato, it is likely to make landfall near Guangdong on August 27.