HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong and southern China hunkered down under red alert Sunday as strong winds and heavy rain from Typhoon Mangkhut lashed the densely populated coast, a day after the biggest storm of the year left at least 28 dead from landslides and drownings in the northern Philippines.

Nearly half a million people had been evacuated from seven cities in Guangdong province, the gambling enclave of Macau closed down casinos for the first time and the Hong Kong Observatory warned people to stay away from the Victoria Harbour landmark, where storm surges battered the waterfront reinforced with sandbags. Mangkhut is due to make landfall in Guangdong later Sunday.

The national meteorological center said southern China "will face a severe test caused by wind and rain" and urged officials to prepare for possible disasters.

The Librador family inside their house that is heavily damaged by typhoon Mangkhut on September 15, 2018 in Alcala, Philippines.

On Sunday morning, the typhoon packed sustained winds of 155 kilometers (96 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 190 kph (118 mph). The Hong Kong Observatory said although Mangkhut had weakened slightly, its extensive, intense rainbands were bringing heavy downfall and frequent squalls.

Hundreds of flights were canceled. All high-speed and some normal rail services in Guangdong and Hainan provinces were also halted Sunday, the China Railway Guangzhou Group Co. said.

In Fujian province and elsewhere, tens of thousands of fishing boats returned to port and construction work came to a stop.

Philippine National Police Director General Oscar Albayalde told The Associated Press that 20 people had died in the Cordillera mountain region, four in nearby Nueva Vizcaya province and another outside of the two regions. Three more deaths have been reported in northeastern Cagayan province, where the typhoon made landfall before dawn Saturday.

An overturned tricycle is seen next to a destroyed house after Super Typhoon Mangkhut hit the town of Alcala, Cagayan province in the Philippines on September 15, 2018.

Among the fatalities were an infant and a 2-year-old child who died with their parents after the couple refused to immediately evacuate from their high-risk community in a Nueva Vizcaya mountain town, said Francis Tolentino, an adviser to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

"They can't decide for themselves where to go," he said of the children, expressing frustration that the tragedy was not prevented.

Tolentino, who was assigned by Duterte to help coordinate disaster response, said at least two other people were missing.

Mayor Mauricio Domogan said at least three people died and six others were missing in his mountain city of Baguio after strong winds and rain destroyed several houses and set off landslides, which also blocked roads to the popular vacation destination. It was not immediately clear whether the dead and missing had been included in the overall death toll.

About 87,000 people had evacuated from high-risk areas of the Philippines. Tolentino and other officials advised them not to return home until the lingering danger had passed.

An aerial view shows the fishing village of Tai O in Hong Kong on September 15, 2018, a day before the expected arrival of Super Typhoon Mangkhut.

In Cagayan's capital, Tuguegarao, where the typhoon hit land, Associated Press journalists saw a severely damaged public market, its roof ripped apart and wooden stalls and tarpaulin canopies in disarray. Outside a popular shopping mall, debris was scattered everywhere and government workers cleared roads of fallen trees.

The Tuguegarao airport terminal also was damaged, its roof and glass windows shattered by strong winds.

The typhoon struck at the start of the rice and corn harvesting season in the northern breadbasket, prompting farmers to scramble to save what they could of their crops, Cagayan Gov. Manuel Mamba said.

In Hong Kong, Security Minister John Lee Ka-chiu urged residents to prepare for the worst.

"Because Mangkhut will bring winds and rains of extraordinary speeds, scope and severity, our preparation and response efforts will be greater than in the past," Lee said. "Each department must have a sense of crisis, make a comprehensive assessment and plan, and prepare for the worst."

Cathay Pacific said all of its flights would be canceled between 2:30 a.m. Sunday and 4 a.m. Monday. The city of Shenzhen also canceled all flights between Sunday and early Monday morning. Hainan Airlines canceled 234 flights in the cities of Haikou, Sanya, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai scheduled this weekend.

For the first time in the history of Macau, next door to Hong Kong, casinos were ordered to close from 11 p.m. Saturday, the South China Morning Post reported. The gambling city suffered catastrophic flooding during Typhoon Hato last August that left 10 dead and led to accusations of corruption and incompetence at its meteorological office.

Associated Press writers Aaron Favila and Joeal Calupitan in Tuguegarao, Philippines, Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, and Gillian Wong in Beijing contributed to this report.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>Nearly half a million people had been evacuated from seven cities in China

Typhoon Mangkhut barrelled into southern China on Sunday after lashing the northern Philippines with strong winds and heavy rain that left at least 36 people dead and dozens more feared buried in a landslide.

Ahead of the massive typhoon, nearly half a million people had been evacuated from seven cities in China’s Guangdong province, the gambling enclave of Macau closed casinos for the first time and the Hong Kong Observatory warned people to stay away from the Victoria Harbour landmark, where storm surges battered the sandbag-reinforced waterfront.

Mangkhut made landfall in the city of Taishan in Guangdong province at 5 p.m. local time, packing wind speeds of 162 kilometres (100 miles) per hour. State television broadcaster CGTN reported that surging waves flooded a seaside hotel in the city of Shenzhen.

Authorities in southern China had issued a red alert, the most severe warning, as the national meteorological centre said the densely populated region would face a “severe test caused by wind and rain” and urged officials to prepare for possible disasters.

On Sunday morning, the typhoon packed sustained winds of 155 kilometres (96 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 190 kph (118 mph). The Hong Kong Observatory said although Mangkhut had weakened slightly, its extensive, intense rainbands were bringing heavy downfall and frequent squalls.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled. All high-speed and some normal rail services in Guangdong and Hainan provinces were also halted, the China Railway Guangzhou Group Co. said.

In Hong Kong, a video posted online by residents showed the top corner of an old building break and fall off while in another video, a tall building swayed as strong winds blew.

The storm also broke windows, felled trees, tore bamboo scaffolding off buildings under construction and flooded areas with sometimes waist-high waters, according to the South China Morning Post.

The paper said the heavy rains brought storm surges of 3 metres (10 feet) around Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Security Minister John Lee Ka-chiu urged residents to prepare for the worst.

“Because Mangkhut will bring winds and rains of extraordinary speeds, scope and severity, our preparation and response efforts will be greater than in the past,” Lee said. “Each department must have a sense of crisis, make a comprehensive assessment and plan, and prepare for the worst.”

Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific said all of its flights would be cancelled between 2:30 a.m. Sunday and 4 a.m. Monday. The city of Shenzhen also cancelled all flights between Sunday and early Monday morning. Hainan Airlines cancelled 234 flights in the cities of Haikou, Sanya, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai scheduled this weekend.

In Macau, next door to Hong Kong, casinos were ordered to close from 11 p.m. Saturday, the first time such action was taken in the city, the South China Morning Post reported. Macau suffered catastrophic flooding during Typhoon Hato last year, leading to accusations of corruption and incompetence at its meteorological office.

In Macau’s inner harbour district on Sunday, the water level reached 1.5 metres (5 feet) and was expected to rise further. The district was one of the most affected by floods from Typhoon Hato, which left 10 people dead.

In Fujian province and other parts of southern China, tens of thousands of fishing boats returned to port and construction work came to a stop.

In the northern Philippines, at least 40 people, mostly gold miners, are feared to have been trapped in a landslide in a mountain town that was pummeled by the typhoon before it blew out of the country late Saturday.

Police Superintendent Pelita Tacio told The Associated Press by phone that dozens of rescuers, including army troops and police, have dug out at least seven bodies from the huge mound of mud and rocks in the far-flung town of Itogon in Benguet province.

A part of the mountainside collapsed on the miners’ bunkhouses Saturday at the height of the typhoon’s onslaught, Tacio said, adding that rescuers were scrambling to pull out the body of another victim pinned by rocks and mud before she left the area Sunday.

At least 36 people, including the eight miners retrieved in Itogon, have died in typhoon-related incidents in the Philippines, mostly from landslides and collapsed houses.

Mangkhut made landfall on Saturday on the northeastern tip of Luzon island in the Philippines with sustained winds of 205 kilometres (127 mph) and gusts of 255 kph (158 mph).

The Philippines, which was battered by the typhoon on Saturday, appeared to have been spared the high number of casualties many had feared. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan left more than 7,300 people dead or missing, flattened villages and displaced more than 5 million in the central Philippines. A massive evacuation ahead of Mangkhut helped lessen potential casualties, with about 87,000 people evacuating from high-risk areas, officials said.

Philippine National Police Director General Oscar Albayalde told The Associated Press that 20 people had died in the Cordillera mountain region, four in nearby Nueva Vizcaya province and another outside of the two regions. Three more deaths were reported in northeastern Cagayan province, where the typhoon made landfall.

The typhoon struck at the start of the rice and corn harvesting season in the Philippines’ northern breadbasket, prompting farmers to scramble to save what they could of their crops, Cagayan Gov. Manuel Mamba said.

Gomez reported from Manila, Philippines. Associated Press writers Aaron Favila and Joeal Calupitan in Tuguegarao, Philippines, and Gillian Wong in Beijing contributed to this report.

Vincent Yu And Jim Gomez, The Associated Press

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.</s>Typhoon aims at south China after killing 28 in Philippines

TUGUEGARAO, Philippines (AP) — Typhoon Mangkhut roared toward densely populated Hong Kong and southern China on Sunday after ravaging across the northern Philippines with ferocious winds and heavy rain that left at least 28 dead in landslides and collapsed houses.

The strongest storm so far this year in the world sliced across the northern tip of Luzon Island on Saturday, a breadbasket that is also a region of flood-prone rice plains and mountain provinces with a history of deadly landslides. More than 5 million people were in the path of the typhoon, equivalent to a Category 5 Atlantic hurricane when it hit the Philippines. On Sunday morning, It packed sustained winds of 155 kilometers (96 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 190 kph (118 mph).

Hong Kong and southern China issued the highest storm signals. The Guangdong provincial office in charge of flood prevention said Sunday that nearly half a million people had been evacuated from seven cities.

The Hong Kong Observatory said although Mangkhut had weakened slightly, its extensive, intense rainbands were bringing heavy downfall and frequent squalls. Storm surge of about 3 ½ meters (9.8 feet) or above is expected at the city's waterfront Victoria Harbour, the observatory said, appealing on the public to avoid the shoreline.

Philippine National Police Director General Oscar Albayalde told The Associated Press that 20 had died in the Cordillera mountain region, four in nearby Nueva Vizcaya province and another outside of the two regions. Three more deaths have been reported in northeastern Cagayan province, where the typhoon made landfall.

Among the fatalities were an infant and a 2-year-old child who died with their parents after the couple refused to immediately evacuate from their high-risk community in a Nueva Vizcaya mountain town, said Francis Tolentino, an adviser to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

"They can't decide for themselves where to go," he said of the children, expressing frustration that the tragedy was not prevented.

Tolentino, who was assigned by Duterte to help coordinate disaster response, said at least two other people were missing.

Mayor Mauricio Domogan said at least three people died and six others were missing in his mountain city of Baguio after strong winds and rain destroyed several houses and set off landslides, which also blocked roads to the popular vacation destination. It was not immediately clear whether the dead and missing had been included in the overall death toll.

About 87,000 people had evacuated from high-risk areas of the Philippines. Tolentino and other officials advised them not to return home until the lingering danger had passed.

In Cagayan's capital, Tuguegarao, where the typhoon made landfall, Associated Press journalists saw a severely damaged public market, its roof ripped apart and wooden stalls and tarpaulin canopies in disarray. Outside a popular shopping mall, debris was scattered everywhere and government workers cleared roads of fallen trees. Many stores and houses were damaged but most residents remained indoors as occasional gusts sent small pieces of tin sheets and other debris flying dangerously.

The Tuguegarao airport terminal also was damaged, its roof and glass windows shattered by strong winds.

The typhoon struck at the start of the rice and corn harvesting season in Cagayan, a major agricultural producer, prompting farmers to scramble to save what they could of their crops, Cagayan Gov. Manuel Mamba said.

In Hong Kong, Security Minister John Lee Ka-chiu urged residents to prepare for the worst.

Cathay Pacific said all of its flights would be canceled between 2:30 a.m. local time on Sunday and 4 a.m. Monday.

"Because Mangkhut will bring winds and rains of extraordinary speeds, scope and severity, our preparation and response efforts will be greater than in the past," Lee said. "Each department must have a sense of crisis, make a comprehensive assessment and plan, and prepare for the worst."

In nearby Fujian province in China, 51,000 people were evacuated from fishing boats and around 11,000 vessels returned to port.

China's National Meteorological Center issued an alert saying Mangkhut would make landfall somewhere on the coast in Guangdong province on Sunday afternoon or evening.

Ferry services in the Qiongzhou Strait in southern China were halted on Saturday and helicopters and tugboats were dispatched to Guangdong to transfer offshore workers to safety and warn ships about the typhoon, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Mangkhut, the Thai word for mangosteen fruit, is the 15th storm this year to batter the Philippines, which is hit by about 20 a year and is considered one of the world's most disaster-prone countries. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan left more than 7,300 people dead or missing, flattened villages, swept ships inland and displaced more than 5 million in the central Philippines.

Associated Press writers Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, and Gillian Wong in Beijing contributed to this report.</s>HONG KONG (AP) — Typhoon Mangkhut barreled into southern China on Sunday after lashing the northern Philippines with strong winds and heavy rain that left at least 64 people dead and dozens more feared buried in a landslide.

More than 2.4 million people had been evacuated in southern China's Guangdong province by Sunday evening to flee the massive typhoon and nearly 50,000 fishing boats were called back to port, state media reported.

The gambling enclave of Macau closed casinos for the first time and the Hong Kong Observatory warned people to stay away from the Victoria Harbour landmark, where storm surges battered the sandbag-reinforced waterfront.

Hong Kong's RTHK broadcaster cited experts as saying Mangkhut was expected to be the strongest typhoon to hit the city in decades. The Hong Kong Observatory issued its strongest storm warning for 10 hours on Sunday, just slightly shorter than the record time of 11 hours set by Typhoon York in 1999, the South China Morning Post reported.

The storm made landfall in the Guangdong city of Taishan at 5 p.m., packing wind speeds of 162 kilometers (100 miles) per hour. State television broadcaster CGTN reported that surging waves flooded a seaside hotel in the city of Shenzhen.

Groceries flew off the shelves of supermarkets in the provincial capital of Guangzhou as residents stocked up in anticipation of being confined at home by the typhoon, China's official Xinhua News Agency said.

Authorities in southern China issued a red alert, the most severe warning, as the national meteorological center said the densely populated region would face a "severe test caused by wind and rain" and urged officials to prepare for possible disasters.

Hundreds of flights were canceled. All high-speed and some normal rail services in Guangdong and Hainan provinces were also halted, the China Railway Guangzhou Group Co. said.

In Hong Kong, a video posted online by residents showed the top corner of an old building break and fall off, while in another video, a tall building swayed as strong winds blew.

The storm also broke windows, felled trees, tore bamboo scaffolding off buildings under construction and flooded areas with sometimes waist-high waters, according to the South China Morning Post.

The paper said the heavy rains brought storm surges of 3 meters (10 feet) around Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Security Minister John Lee Ka-chiu urged residents to prepare for the worst.

"Because Mangkhut will bring winds and rains of extraordinary speeds, scope and severity, our preparation and response efforts will be greater than in the past," Lee said. "Each department must have a sense of crisis, make a comprehensive assessment and plan, and prepare for the worst."

Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific said all of its flights would be canceled between 2:30 a.m. Sunday and 4 a.m. Monday. The city of Shenzhen also canceled all flights between Sunday and early Monday morning. Hainan Airlines canceled 234 flights in the cities of Haikou, Sanya, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai scheduled over the weekend.

In Macau, next door to Hong Kong, casinos were ordered to close from 11 p.m. Saturday, the first time such action was taken in the city, the South China Morning Post reported. Macau suffered catastrophic flooding during Typhoon Hato last year, leading to accusations of corruption and incompetence at its meteorological office.

In Macau's inner harbor district, the water level reached 1.5 meters (5 feet) on Sunday and was expected to rise further. The district was one of the most affected by floods from Typhoon Hato, which left 10 people dead.

In the northern Philippines, Mangkhut made landfall Saturday on the northeastern tip of Luzon island with sustained winds of 205 kilometers (127 miles) per hour and gusts of 255 kph (158 mph).

Dozens of people, mostly small-scale miners and their families, were feared to have been trapped by a landslide in the far-flung village of Ucab in Itogon town in the northern Philippines' Benguet province, Itogon Mayor Victorio Palangdan said by phone on Sunday.

Palangdan said three villagers who nearly got buried by the huge pile of mud and rocks told authorities they saw residents rush into an old three-story building, a former mining bunkhouse that has been transformed into a chapel, at the height of the typhoon's onslaught Saturday afternoon.

"That was not an authorized evacuation center," Palangdan said, but expressed sadness that the villagers, many of them poor miners, had few options to survive in a region where big corporations have profited immensely from gold mines.

Police Superintendent Pelita Tacio said 34 villagers had died and 36 remained missing in the landslides in Ucab and another village in Itogon town. Rescuers were scrambling to pull out the body of a victim from the mound of mud and rocks in Ucab before Tacio left the area Sunday.

"It's very sad. I could hear villagers wailing in their homes near the site of the accident," Tacio said by phone.

Rescuers were hampered by rain and mud, and the search and rescue operation was suspended at nightfall and will resume at daybreak Monday, Palangdan said. Police and their vehicles could not immediately reach the landside-hit area because the ground was unstable and soaked from the heavy rains, regional police chief Rolando Nana told the ABS-CBN TV network.

Overall, at least 64 people have died in typhoon incidents in the northern Philippines, mostly from landslides and collapsed houses, according to the national police. Forty-five other people were missing and 33 were injured in the storm.

The hardest-hit province was Benguet, where 38 people died, mostly in two landslides, and 37 are missing, the police said.

Still, the Philippines appeared to have been spared the high number of casualties many had feared. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan left more than 7,300 people dead or missing, flattened villages and displaced more than 5 million in the central Philippines. A massive evacuation ahead of Mangkhut helped lessen potential casualties, with about 87,000 people evacuating from high-risk areas, officials said.

Philippine National Police Director General Oscar Albayalde told The Associated Press that 20 people died in the Cordillera mountain region, four in nearby Nueva Vizcaya province and another outside of the two regions. Three more deaths were reported in northeastern Cagayan province, where the typhoon made landfall.

The typhoon struck at the start of the rice and corn harvesting season in the Philippines' northern breadbasket, prompting farmers to scramble to save what they could of their crops, Cagayan Gov. Manuel Mamba said.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>Typhoon Mangkhut began to lash southern China on Sunday, the latest stop along a destructive path that has left dozens dead and many missing.

At least 64 people have died in the Philippines, according to The Associated Press. Two people were reported killed in China's Guangdong province, according to Chinese state media.

As the typhoon approached the Pearl River Delta, the country's National Observatory issued its highest alert level. Hundreds of flights were canceled. Thousands of fishing boats were called back to port. And more than 2.4 million people were relocated, according to the AP.

In Hong Kong, videos posted to social media showed buildings swaying, roofs torn off, scaffolding collapsing and windows blown out by fierce winds. Gusts of winds reached up to 127 miles per hour, NPR's Rob Schmitz reported, sending debris flying. On flooded streets that resembled rivers, some residents traveled by canoe.

Waves along the Hong Kong coastline reached as high as 40 feet, according to The New York Times. Authorities were preparing to protect two nuclear plants, Taishan and Yangjiang along the coastline. "All emergency duty personnel of Taishan Nuclear Power have been on the job, all preparations have been implemented, and the Taishan Nuclear Power Base is ready," managers said in a statement, according to the Times.

After the typhoon hit Macau, 15 people were reported injured and 20,000 households lost power, according to the South China Morning Post. Electricity supplier Companhia de Electricidade de Macau said it suspended power to low-lying areas and will return it when the water level recedes.

Yaonan Li, a resident in downtown Zhuhai, some 15 minutes outside Macau, told NPR the government was nervous about the typhoon but had learned its lesson from a typhoon last year. "The Zhuhai city government spent the financial subsidy that they received from the central government last year on rebuilding the city," paving new roads and reinforcing sidewalks, he said.

The government announced the closure of its bustling casinos, heritage sites and museums. Schools will be suspended for a day, the South China Morning Post reported.

Mangkhut arrived in China after making landfall Saturday morning on Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines. With sustained winds of more than 120 mph, it was stronger than Hurricane Florence when it made landfall with the Carolinas.

Dozens of people have died and more are feared to be trapped by landslides, especially in the Cordillera mountain region.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte traveled to Cagayan province Sunday to assess the damage and recovery efforts. "I share the grief of those who lost loved ones," he said, calling it "an act of God," according to the Philippine News Agency. He also said he was "very, very satisfied" with the government's overall response.

The National Food Authority planned to release nearly 5,000 bags of rice to relief agencies and local government units, the Philippine Information Agency stated.

The Philippine Red Cross shared video and images of rescue efforts, including a nighttime search for families in "neck deep floods." The ceiling of a district hospital, "leaving the emergency room, laboratory, Out Patient Department, terrace and lobby unusable," it said.

The military planned to send two C-130 airplanes and 10 helicopters for relief and rescue operations, according to CNN.

By 8 p.m. local time in China, the Hong Kong Observatory said winds had weakened. It downgraded its warning level for the typhoon. "As gales and violent squalls are still occurring in places, precautions should not yet be relaxed," it added.

Mangkhut is expected to move west over northern Vietnam.</s>Yet amid the suffering, there was also relief that the situation was not much worse.

The initial casualty toll was far lower than officials had feared in the days before the storm made landfall early Saturday on the Philippines’ largest and most populous island.

But it could be days or weeks before the storm’s true human toll is known. It will also take time to assess how much damage was done to the country’s prime agricultural region and to the economy. Damage to farms could be extensive — and costly for the nation. The region is the country’s largest food producer, and the destruction of crops could lead to food shortages, higher costs and inflation.

The number of confirmed fatalities is almost certain to rise as people begin assessing damage from the typhoon. But if the numbers are limited, it will be, at least in part, a testament to the preparedness of authorities following disastrous storms in recent years.

Determined not to see a repeat of Typhoon Haiyan, which killed more than 6,000 people in the central Philippines in 2013, officials had evacuated more than 105,000 people to temporary shelters before Typhoon Mangkhut hit.

Communications in the disaster zone were hampered by power and cell service outages, and access was difficult in many places because of flooding and road closures.

In one community after another, emergency workers reported downed trees and badly damaged buildings. Signs, tin roofs and gates that had been torn free flew about.

The typhoon, with wind speeds reaching 170 mph before reaching land, could have caused far more damage if it had hit Luzon farther south and closer to Manila — a megacity of more than 12 million people.

The area of Luzon that the typhoon hit hardest is primarily agricultural and, with more than 4 million people, is less densely populated than other parts of the country.

Leaving the Philippines behind Saturday evening, Typhoon Mangkhut took aim at Hong Kong and southern China, where it was expected make landfall on Sunday.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Hannah Beech and Richard C. Paddock © 2018 The New York Times</s>HONG KONG (AP) — Typhoon Mangkhut wreaked havoc on the northern Philippines and southern China, leaving dozens of people dead and forcing millions to evacuate.

The massive storm made landfall on Saturday on the northeastern tip of Luzon island in the Philippines with sustained winds of 205 kilometers (127 miles) per hour and gusts of 255 kph (158 mph).

It then moved on to Hong Kong and elsewhere in southern China. Chinese state media cited the Guangdong provincial meteorological station as saying that by Sunday evening, more than 2.4 million people had been relocated and nearly 50,000 fishing boats called back to port.

The gambling enclave of Macau closed casinos for the first time and the Hong Kong Observatory warned people to stay away from the Victoria Harbour landmark, where storm surges battered the sandbag-reinforced waterfront.</s>Typhoon Mangkhut began to lash southern China on Sunday, the latest stop along a destructive path that has left dozens dead and many missing.

At least 64 people have died in the Philippines, according to The Associated Press. Two people were reported killed in China's Guangdong province, according to Chinese state media.

As the typhoon approached the Pearl River Delta, the country's National Observatory issued its highest alert level. Hundreds of flights were canceled. Thousands of fishing boats were called back to port. And more than 2.4 million people were relocated, according to the AP.

In Hong Kong, videos posted to social media showed buildings swaying, roofs torn off, scaffolding collapsing and windows blown out by fierce winds. Gusts of winds reached up to 127 miles per hour, NPR's Rob Schmitz reported, sending debris flying. On flooded streets that resembled rivers, some residents traveled by canoe.

Waves along the Hong Kong coastline reached as high as 40 feet, according to The New York Times. Authorities were preparing to protect two nuclear plants, Taishan and Yangjiang along the coastline. "All emergency duty personnel of Taishan Nuclear Power have been on the job, all preparations have been implemented, and the Taishan Nuclear Power Base is ready," managers said in a statement, according to the Times.

After the typhoon hit Macau, 15 people were reported injured and 20,000 households lost power, according to the South China Morning Post. Electricity supplier Companhia de Electricidade de Macau said it suspended power to low-lying areas and will return it when the water level recedes.

Yaonan Li, a resident in downtown Zhuhai, some 15 minutes outside Macau, told NPR the government was nervous about the typhoon but had learned its lesson from a typhoon last year. "The Zhuhai city government spent the financial subsidy that they received from the central government last year on rebuilding the city," paving new roads and reinforcing sidewalks, he said.

The government announced the closure of its bustling casinos, heritage sites and museums. Schools will be suspended for a day, the South China Morning Post reported.

Mangkhut arrived in China after making landfall Saturday morning on Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines. With sustained winds of more than 120 mph, it was stronger than Hurricane Florence when it made landfall with the Carolinas.

Dozens of people have died and more are feared to be trapped by landslides, especially in the Cordillera mountain region.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte traveled to Cagayan province Sunday to assess the damage and recovery efforts. "I share the grief of those who lost loved ones," he said, calling it "an act of God," according to the Philippine News Agency. He also said he was "very, very satisfied" with the government's overall response.

The National Food Authority planned to release nearly 5,000 bags of rice to relief agencies and local government units, the Philippine Information Agency stated.

The Philippine Red Cross shared video and images of rescue efforts, including a nighttime search for families in "neck deep floods." The ceiling of a district hospital, "leaving the emergency room, laboratory, Out Patient Department, terrace and lobby unusable," it said.

The military planned to send two C-130 airplanes and 10 helicopters for relief and rescue operations, according to CNN.

By 8 p.m. local time in China, the Hong Kong Observatory said winds had weakened. It downgraded its warning level for the typhoon. "As gales and violent squalls are still occurring in places, precautions should not yet be relaxed," it added.

Mangkhut is expected to move west over northern Vietnam.</s>HONG KONG (AP) — Typhoon Mangkhut barreled into southern China on Sunday, killing two people after lashing the Philippines with strong winds and heavy rain that left at least 64 dead and dozens more feared buried in a landslide.

More than 2.4 million people had been evacuated in southern China's Guangdong province by Sunday evening to flee the massive typhoon and nearly 50,000 fishing boats were called back to port, state media reported. It threatened to be the strongest typhoon to hit Hong Kong in nearly two decades.

That warning came after Mangkhut's devastating march through the northern Philippines, where the storm made landfall Saturday on Luzon island with sustained winds of 205 kilometers (127 miles) per hour and gusts of 255 kph (158 mph).

Police Superintendent Pelita Tacio said 34 villagers had died and 36 remained missing in landslides in two villages in Itogon town in the northern Philippine mountain province of Benguet.

Itogon Mayor Victorio Palangdan told The Associated Press by phone that at the height of the typhoon's onslaught Saturday afternoon, dozens of people, mostly miners and their families, rushed into an old three-story building in the village of Ucab.

The building — a former mining bunkhouse that had been transformed into a chapel — was obliterated when part of a mountain slope collapsed. Three villagers who managed to escape told authorities what happened.

"They thought they were really safe there," the mayor said. He expressed sadness that the villagers, many of them poor, had few options to survive in a region where big corporations have profited immensely from gold mines.

Rescuers were scrambling to pull out the body of a victim from the mound of mud and rocks in Ucab before Tacio, the police official, left the area Sunday.

"I could hear villagers wailing in their homes near the site of the accident," Tacio said.

The tragedy came as Florence, another major storm, unleashed catastrophic flooding across the Carolinas in the United States, where more than 30 inches of rain since Friday threatened a deluge of historic proportions as the storm slowly crawled inland from the coast. Muddy river waters swamped entire communities and the coastal city of Wilmington, North Carolina, was cut off by the flood waters.

In China, meanwhile, Mangkhut continued its destructive path, with Hong Kong bracing for a storm that could be the strongest to hit the city since Typhoon York in 1999.

A video posted online by residents showed the top corner of an old building break and fall off, while in another video, a tall building swayed as strong winds blew.

The storm shattered glass windows on commercial skyscrapers in Hong Kong, sending sheets of paper pouring out of the buildings, fluttering and spiraling as they headed for the debris-strewn ground, according to several videos posted on social media.

Mangkhut also felled trees, tore bamboo scaffolding off buildings under construction and flooded some areas of Hong Kong with waist-high waters, according to the South China Morning Post.

The paper said the heavy rains brought storm surges of 3 meters (10 feet) around Hong Kong.

The storm made landfall in the Guangdong city of Taishan at 5 p.m., packing wind speeds of 162 kilometers (100 miles) per hour. State television broadcaster CGTN reported that surging waves flooded a seaside hotel in the city of Shenzhen.

In Macau, next door to Hong Kong, casinos were ordered to close from 11 p.m. Saturday, the first time such action was taken in the city, the South China Morning Post reported. In the city's inner harbor district, the water level reached 1.5 meters (5 feet) on Sunday and was expected to rise further. The area was one of the most affected by floods from Typhoon Hato, which left 10 people dead last year.

Authorities in southern China issued a red alert, the most severe warning, as the national meteorological center said the densely populated region would face a "severe test caused by wind and rain" and urged officials to prepare for possible disasters.

Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific said all of its flights would be canceled between 2:30 a.m. Sunday and 4 a.m. Monday. The city of Shenzhen also canceled all flights between Sunday and early Monday morning. Hainan Airlines canceled 234 flights in the cities of Haikou, Sanya, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai scheduled over the weekend.

All high-speed and some normal rail services in Guangdong and Hainan provinces were also halted, the China Railway Guangzhou Group Co. said.

In the Philippines, rescuers for the Itogon landslide were hampered by rain and mud. The search and rescue operation was suspended at nightfall and was to resume at daybreak Monday, said Palangdan, the mayor. Police and their vehicles could not immediately reach the landslide-hit area because the ground was unstable and soaked from the heavy rains, regional police chief Rolando Nana told the ABS-CBN TV network.

Overall, at least 64 people have died in typhoon-related incidents in the northern Philippines, mostly from landslides and collapsed houses, according to the national police. Forty-five other people were missing and 33 were injured in the storm.

The hardest-hit area was Benguet province, where 38 people died, mostly in the two landslides in Itogon, and 37 are missing, the police said.

Still, the Philippines appeared to have been spared the high number of casualties many had feared. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan left more than 7,300 people dead or missing, flattened villages and displaced more than 5 million in the central Philippines. A massive evacuation of about 87,000 people from high-risk areas helped lessen potential casualties, officials said.

The typhoon struck at the start of the rice and corn harvesting season in the Philippines' northern breadbasket, prompting farmers to scramble to save what they could of their crops, Cagayan Gov. Manuel Mamba said.

Gomez reported from Manila, Philippines. Associated Press writers Aaron Favila and Joeal Calupitan in Tuguegarao, Philippines, and Gillian Wong in Beijing contributed to this report.</s>Typhoon Mangkhut has made landfall in southern China after lashing the northern Philippines.

Strong winds and heavy rain have left at least 64 people dead in the Philippines, while dozens more were feared buried in a landslide.

More than 2.4 million people had been evacuated in southern China’s Guangdong province by Sunday evening to flee the massive typhoon and nearly 50,000 fishing boats were called back to port, state media reported.

The gambling enclave of Macau closed casinos for the first time and the Hong Kong Observatory warned people to stay away from the Victoria Harbour landmark, where storm surges battered the sandbag-reinforced waterfront.

Hong Kong’s RTHK broadcaster cited experts as saying Mangkhut was expected to be the strongest typhoon to hit the city in decades. The Hong Kong Observatory issued its strongest storm warning for 10 hours on Sunday, just slightly shorter than the record time of 11 hours set by Typhoon York in 1999, the South China Morning Post reported.

The storm made landfall in the Guangdong city of Taishan at 5pm, packing wind speeds of 100 mph.

State broadcaster CGTN reported that surging waves flooded a seaside hotel in the city of Shenzhen.

Groceries flew off supermarket shelves in the provincial capital of Guangzhou as residents stocked up in anticipation of being confined to their homes by the typhoon, China’s official Xinhua News Agency said.

Authorities in southern China issued a red alert, the most severe warning, as the national meteorological centre said the densely populated region would face a “severe test caused by wind and rain” and urged officials to prepare for possible disasters.

Hundreds of flights were canceled. All high-speed and some normal rail services in Guangdong and Hainan provinces were also halted, the China Railway Guangzhou Group Co said.

The storm broke windows, felled trees, tore bamboo scaffolding off buildings under construction and flooded areas with sometimes waist-high waters, according to the South China Morning Post. The paper said the heavy rains brought storm surges of 3m (10ft) around Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Security Minister John Lee Ka-chiu urged residents to prepare for the worst.

“Because Mangkhut will bring winds and rains of extraordinary speeds, scope and severity, our preparation and response efforts will be greater than in the past,” Mr Lee said. “Each department must have a sense of crisis, make a comprehensive assessment and plan, and prepare for the worst.”

Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific said all of its flights would be canceled between 2.30am on Sunday and 4am on Monday. The city of Shenzhen also cancelled all flights between Sunday and early Monday morning. Hainan Airlines cancelled 234 flights in the cities of Haikou, Sanya, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai scheduled over the weekend.

In Macau’s inner harbour district, the water level reached 1.5m (5f) on Sunday and was expected to rise further. The district was one of the most affected by floods from Typhoon Hato, which left 10 people dead.
Super Typhoon Mangkhut (Ompong), one of the strongest in the history of the Philippines, kills at least 59 people. The typhoon struck also Hong Kong, injuring more than 200 people while four persons died in China. A woman died in Taiwan after being swept out to sea.