Southern China, particularly the coastal city of Zhuhai, has been brought to a standstill as Typhoon Ragasa, dubbed the ‘king of storms,’ made landfall with ferocious winds and torrential rains. The typhoon, the most intense the world has witnessed this year, swept through the South China Sea after wreaking havoc in the Philippines and Taiwan, where it claimed at least 15 lives due to a mountain lake bursting its banks. In Zhuhai, a city of nearly three million, the usual hustle and bustle of rush hour was replaced by the eerie silence of evacuated streets, punctuated only by the howling winds and the occasional determined cyclist braving the storm. Police vehicles patrolled the streets, urging residents to stay indoors, though their warnings were often drowned out by the 100mph (160km/h) gusts. The storm, which made landfall at 17:00 local time, had already forced the evacuation of nearly two million people in Guangdong province, with officials issuing a red alert for high tides and coastal surges. The city’s tall buildings bore the brunt of the storm, with rain lashing against windows and winds making it nearly impossible to stand upright. Evacuation centers across the city housed families who had fled their homes, their children finding solace in the unexpected day off school. Despite the severity of the storm, there was no panic, only a sense of resignation among the locals, who are no strangers to typhoons. Authorities, keen to avoid criticism from past natural disasters, had issued warnings days in advance, urging residents to prepare for a ‘catastrophic disaster.’ This year has been marked by extreme weather events in China, from heatwaves to floods, and Typhoon Ragasa is yet another test of the country’s disaster preparedness. With alerts for heavy rain and landslides still in place, the storm’s impact is far from over.