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San Francisco • Typhoon Nesat forced the evacuation of some 100,000 homes on a southern China island on Saturday, after leaving dozens dead in the Philippines and grinding Hong Kong to a halt earlier in the week.
The storm, with winds whipping at more than 90 miles per hour, made landfall on the eastern tip of Hainan Island. It triggered school closures, ferry service suspensions and fishing boat recalls, the Xinhua news agency reported.
At the same time, a second storm in less than a week hit the Philippines Saturday, wreaking havoc on a flood-ravaged region still trying to recover from Nesat. Typhoon Nalgae is following a similar path and could head toward Hainan and Vietnam overnight.
Almost 400,000 people are waiting out the brutal weather in evacuation centers and elsewhere as the new storm makes its way across the island nation, according to the Associated Press.
Earlier this week, Nesat battered the Philippines, killing 35 people and leaving another 45 missing. It also led to the cancellation of about 67 flights at the island's two airports, Xinhua said.
The Philippines are slammed by an average of 20 storms a year, though Nesat was particularly damaging.
Elsewhere, Hong Kong on Thursday had to shut down its stock market and shutter businesses. It left the typically bustling streets virtually vacant as the center of the storm neared, but largely avoided the city.