Typhoon Matmo strengthens, prompting China to evacuate 347,000 people ahead of landfall

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BANGKOK (AP) — Typhoon Matmo strengthened ahead of making landfall Sunday in China, prompting the government to evacuate some 347,000 people from the southern provinces of Guangdong and Hainan.

The typhoon had maximum sustained wind speeds of 151 kph (94 mph) on Sunday morning, according to China’s National Meteorological Center. It hit Zhanjiang in Guangdong around mid-afternoon Sunday. The weather authority issued a red-level typhoon warning, the highest in its system.

Hainan, which is also in the pathway of the storm, canceled flights and shut down public transport and businesses starting Saturday in preparation for the storm. The province also preemptively evacuated 197,856 people, according to state media, The Paper.

Matmo directly hit the southwestern parts of Guangdong, where 151,000 people evacuated, The Paper reported. Meanwhile, local media aired footage showing large waves washing seawater onto roads in villages by the coast in Guangdong's Zhanjiang.

Authorities are also warning of heavy rain, with rainfall expected to hit 100 to 249 mm (3.93 to 9.8 inches) in some parts of Guangdong and Hainan.

In the region of Macau, which is not in the typhoon’s direct path, classes and tutoring sessions were canceled due to weather conditions.

Matmao had passed through the Philippines earlier this week. While there were no reports of casualties or major damage, the storm affected more than 220,000 people in five northern agricultural plains and mountainous regions. Nearly 35,000 of them either moved to emergency shelters or houses of relatives away from landslide- or flood-prone villages, disaster-response officials said on Sunday.

The storm will then move westward and north, toward northern Vietnam and China's Yunnan province.

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Associated Press writer Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this report.