Asia and Oceania

Typhoon Ragasa: 14 dead and 33 missing in Taiwan, 1.9 million displaced in China

Heavy rains have already hit the Philippines, where they claimed 10 lives, and Hong Kong where airlines have taken their aircraft elsewhere

24 September 2025

I danni provocati dal passaggio del tifone Ragasa nella contea di Hualien, a Taiwan

3' min read

From our correspondent

NEW DELHI - Dozens are dead and missing between Taiwan and the Philippines, nearly two million people have been displaced and hundreds of flights cancelled. The super typhoon Ragasa, the most violent since the beginning of the year, has not yet finished its course, but the damage is already enormous.

At least 14 people have been killed by super typhoon Ragasa in Taiwan, after heavy rains caused a mountain reservoir to overflow, flooding a town in the Huatung valley in Hualien county. In the last few hours, the number of missing people has dropped from several hundred to 33. The dam lake that caused the disaster broke its banks on Tuesday afternoon, pouring its mass of water over the town of Guangfu. The fire brigade reported that all the dead and missing are in the small rural town, where the waters also swept over a major road bridge.

Taiwan was hit on Monday by the outer edge of the super typhoon - a typhoon with winds in excess of 240 kilometres per hour - that is now lashing the southern coast of China and Hong Kong. Before it hit Taiwan, Ragasa claimed another ten victims in the Philippines, mostly fishermen caught offshore by the storm.

Typhoon is the term used in the Asian Pacific regions to define what in America is commonly called a 'hurricane' and in the Indian Ocean a 'tropical cyclone'.

The Taipei government estimates that the reservoir that overflowed on Tuesday contained 91 million tonnes of water, of which about 60 million tonnes was spilled downstream. Hualien county is the least populous on the island, but its natural beauty makes it one of Taiwan's main tourist attractions. The county is also home to many members of the island's indigenous groups, including the Amis.

Typhoon Ragasa dumped about 70 centimetres of rain on Taiwan's east coast, while the more populous west coast - the heart of the semiconductor industry - was not affected. In 2009, Typhoon Morakot devastated southern Taiwan, causing around 700 casualties and $3 billion in damage.

In a rare sign of detente from China, the Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing expressed its condolences. China considers Taiwan an integral part of its territory, despite strong opposition from the island's democratically elected government.

During the night Ragasa hit the Chinese coast. In Hong Kong, damage was reported in waterfront areas and to boats anchored in the harbour. The strong winds brought down hundreds of trees. The four airlines based in the city cancelled hundreds of flights and shifted 80% of their aircraft to other airports.

In China's Guangdong province, nearly 1.9 million people had to preemptively leave their homes. Factories and schools were closed in a dozen cities in an attempt to limit the damage not only to the population, but also to one of the beating hearts of Chinese manufacturing. The typhoon is expected to make landfall in the evening between the cities of Yangjiang and Zhanjiang.

In recent hours, bad weather has also hit other regions of Asia, such as India. In Kolkata, the heaviest rainfall in 37 years flooded entire districts of the city, claiming 12 victims, nine of whom were electrocuted by electric cables that went under water.

Marco MasciagaCorrispondente da New Delhi
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Luogo: New Delhi
Lingue parlate: Italiano, inglese
Argomenti: Asia del Sud
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