Super typhoon Rammasun makes second landfall in China

A shed is blown down in Zhanjiang City of south China's Guangdong Province, July 18, 2014. Super typhoon Rammasun made its landfall in Zhanjiang at 7:30 p.m. Friday, the provincial meteorological bureau said. This was the second landfall of Typhoon Rammasun in China's coastal areas within four hours. (Xinhua/Liang Xu)

Super typhoon Rammasun made a second landfall in Zhanjiang City in south China's Guangdong Province at 7:30 p.m. Friday, four hours after the first, the provincial meteorological bureau said.

The typhoon landed in Longtangzhen in Xuwen County in Zhanjiang, packing gales of 60 meters per second. Xuwen County, on the southernmost tip of the Chinese mainland, is more than 800 km from the provincial capital Guangzhou.

Prior to landfall, Guangdong authorities set up emergency rescue teams in Zhanjiang, Yangjiang and Maoming cities, with relief supplies including sandbags, life vests, medicines and food.

On Thursday, Zhanjiang authorities suspended ferry services to Techeng Island, a major tourist destination, but more than 1,000 tourists remain stranded there.

Police officers visited every hotel in the risk area to evacuate tourists. Meanwhile, police and fishery authorities called fishing boats back to port on Friday afternoon before the typhoon landed.

Longtangzhen resident Wang Shangfen is a member of the emergency rescue team, ready to brave the storm in his speedboat to save lives in case of emergencies. However, he is worried about his wife and parents at home.

"I called them at 6 p.m. and after that the line was dead," he said. "My father said our courtyard wall had toppled and the hive of bees we raise was lost."

Zhou Yunfeng, a tourist from Chongqing, was stranded in his hotel room. "I never knew a typhoon could be so powerful: trees toppled and gales were so strong that I worried the windows might be blown in."

Typhoon Rammasun, believed to be the strongest to hit south China in 41 years, previously landed at Wenchang City in Hainan Province at 3:30 p.m.

It is moving at 20 kilometers per hour northwest and is expected to land in Beihai and Dongxing cities of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region early Saturday, the regional weather bureau said in a press release

Rammasun wreaked havoc Friday across Guangdong and Hainan provinces, killing at least one in Wenchang and forcing more than 20,000 from their homes in the provincial capital Haikou.

The typhoon has cut off power supplies in some areas of Haikou and flooded at least 13 urban roads. It has also disrupted water supplies and, as of Friday afternoon, only one of three waterworks are still operational, the municipal government of Haikou told Xinhua.

China Southern Airlines were forced to cancel 96 flights to and from its airports in Haikou and Sanya, leaving 8,000 tourists stranded in the tropical island province of Hainan.

A company spokesman said the stranded passengers are expected to leave from 7 a.m. Saturday.

In Shenzhen, a boom city in Guangdong Province close to Hong Kong, 55 flights were canceled Friday, mostly to and from Haikou, Sanya and Zhanjiang, authorities at Baoan International Airport said in a statement.