A powerful typhoons has hit southern China after killing at least 10 people in the Philippines and injuring dozens more.
At least 11 people were hurt in Hong Kong, mostly by flying debris, as winds intensified. Rescue helicopters braved strong winds and heavy seas to pluck 16 sailors from a container ship with a broken rudder.
Winds of up to 185 kph pounded the southern Chinese province of Guangdong as the storm reached land at noon (5.00 a.m. Irish time) near the city of Yangjiang, about 310 kilometres southwest of Hong Kong. It was moving northwest at about 28 kph.
The Hong Kong Observatory said it was the strongest typhoon to hit Guangdong since Typhoon Sally devastated the province in 1996, killing 123 people and injuring 4,300.
A weather official in the city of Maoming, a large oil refining and petrochemical centre, said there were no reports as yet of casualties or flooding in the area but extensive emergency measures were in place across southern China.