Hannah Karpel
Live reporter

Image source, EPA

We’ve been closely following the path of Typhoon Ragasa as it barrelled along the coastlines of parts of south-east Asia, finally making landfall in China's Guangdong province a few hours ago.

It caused particular destruction in eastern Taiwan after a barrier lake burst in Hualien county on Tuesday, killing 17 people, with a further 17 still missing and 32 injured.

Travel disruptions, school suspensions and mass evacuations were issued across Hong Kong and China’s Guangdong province, causing chaos across the regions.

Typhoon Ragasa has slowly weakened over the hours since it made landfall, but conditions remain highly dangerous. It crossed the mainland coast near Yangjiang city with sustained winds of 144km/h (89 mph), BBC Weather’s Sarah Keith-Lucas reports.

According to weather authorities mapping Ragasa’s path, Vietnam and Laos are expected to feel the effects of Ragasa by Thursday.

As for the regions already hit by the typhoon, it's now all about rescue and recovery - volunteers and military troops in China's southern coast have begun door-to-door visits and flights in Hong Kong are expected to resume after midnight local time (17:00 BST), according to airport security.

This is where we will end our live coverage for now. You can find the latest updates in our news article.

Hong Kong's meteorological agency has lowered its warning level for Typhoon Ragasa as it moves further into China.

The level 8 typhoon warning has been downgraded to a level 3.

Macau's meteorological agency is set to make the same downgrade between 21:00 and 00:00 local time (14:00 and 17:00 BST).

While the current warning level is active, people are advised to stay in safe indoor places if they do not need to go outside.

Image source, Reuters

Ragasa is a Filipino word that means a strong, rushing and rolling motion. It is commonly used to describe the movement of floodwaters or even anger.

While it is a Filipino word (more preceisely, Tagalog). Super Typhoon Ragasa has a different name in the Philippines - Nando.

Because of the sheer number of storms and typhoons that graze the country's coast or hit land, the Philippines gives local names to tropical storms and typhoons.

There are 25 names per year for every letter in the alphabet plus 10 spare names. Most names are recycled but the destructive and deadly ones are retired and replaced.

The Philippines also contributes local names to the regional naming system, in this case Ragasa.

The country uses both local and international names. The local name is used only when the weather system is inside the Philippines reporting jurisdiction.

Ninety people have been injured in Hong Kong as a result of the ongoing typhoon, a rise from 62 reported earlier. Of those 90, 53 are men and 37 are women, the hospital authority says.

In its update, the government says it has had to open a further 50 temporary shelters in various districts where 885 people have sought refuge.

Landslides were also reported to the civil engineering department, which says there have been as many as four landslides in Hong Kong and 19 reports of flooding.

Flights in Hong Kong will resume after midnight local time (17:00 BST), the airport authority has said.

About 140,000 passengers were affected by flight disruptions in the past 48 hours, according to the South China Morning Post.

If safety conditions allow, more than 20 flights will arrive in Hong Kong between midnight and 06:00 local time on Thursday (23:00 BST, Wednesday).

Earlier on Tuesday, Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific had said it expected more than 500 flights to be cancelled, while Hong Kong Airlines had said it would stop all departure from the city.

Image source, Reuters

It's just gone 12:15 BST in London, and 19:15 in the southern Chinese city of Yangjiang, where the typhoon made landfall. If you're just joining us now, here's what you need to know:

• Typhoon Ragasa made landfall in Yangjiang at 17:00 local time (10:00 BST) with sustained winds of 144km/h (89mph)
• Nearly two million people were evacuated in Guangdong province ahead of the storm's arrival
• In Taiwan, at least 17 people died after a barrier lake burst its bank, releasing an estimated 15.4 million tonnes of water
• As many as 62 people were injured when the storm passed near Hong Kong, unleashing powerful winds and heavy rain - watch the moment water surged through a hotel's glass doors
• The Hong Kong Observatory downgraded the storm from a super typhoon to a severe typhoon earlier this morning, with violent rain showers and thunderstorms still forecast as it moves away
• Locals are used to severe storms, which will become more and more likely in the future, our China correspondent Laura Bicker reports from Guangdong province

Stay with us as we bring you the latest.

Martin Yip
BBC News Chinese, in Hong Kong

Image source, cclwss/Threads

As the streets of Macau were flooded with seawater, some residents took it not as an inconvenience - but rather turned it into an opportunity.

Dozens flocked to the streets as soon as floodwaters started to recede - despite the city's highest typhoon warning - bringing their own fishing nets, buckets and even wooden rods in an attempt to catch the many fish that had been washed ashore.

Video footage sent to the BBC shows jubilant crowds running around the knee-deep waters in an attempt to score their catch.

But it was a more serious story just a few hours before, with its meteorological agency saying that residents in some areas had to be evacuated on inflatable boats. The city's sole electricity company also cut the power supply for hours on safety grounds.

However, as the Met Bureau downgraded its typhoon signal, the city is likely breathing a sigh of relief - and for some, that could mean enjoying some freshly caught fish.

Laura Bicker
China correspondent

I'm here in Zhuhai on China's southern coast, where the sound of rush hour has been replaced by howling winds and sheets of rain.

Branches from falling trees and what looked like pieces of metal from the edge of a building flew along empty roads on Wednesday as typhoon Ragasa bore down.

Police vehicles have been patrolling the streets with megaphones, urging people to stay inside - but it is difficult to hear them above gusts of 160km/h (100mph) winds.

Still, the thundering skies and a drenched Zhuhai are enough of a warning – apart from an occasional cyclist, determined to get to work, most people heeded the advice, bringing this city of almost three million people to a standstill.

Read more on what the situation on the ground in southern China.

The number of people killed after a barrier lake burst its banks in Taiwan has risen by two to a total of 17.

The Matai'an Creek barrier lake burst after heavy rains from Typhoon Ragasa, releasing millions of tonnes of water.

Sarah Keith-Lucas
Lead Weather Presenter, BBC Weather

In the wake of Typhoon Ragasa, further bands of heavy rainfall will continue to impact parts of southern China, northern Vietnam, the central Philippines and eastern Taiwan with ongoing flooding impacts likely.

The wet season in this region runs from June to October, and much of the annual rainfall is from typhoons and tropical storms.

However, average monthly totals for September are roughly 350mm for the region, but the next few days could bring as much as 450mm.

The ground is already very saturated. More than 400mm fell last week from Tropical Storm Mitag.

Typhoon Ragasa did not make landfall in Hong Kong, but the storm brought violent winds and rain as it passed nearby. At a hotel, a powerful surge of water shattered glass doors, sweeping one worker off his feet.

Watch that moment below:

Typhoon Ragasa has just made landfall near the southern Chinese city of Yangjiang. It earlier passed near Hong Kong, leaving at least 62 people injured.

Hong Kong has now started to lower its storm warnings and we are receiving more images of the aftermath.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Sarah Keith-Lucas
Lead weather presenter

As we mentioned earlier, the storm has now made landfall close to Yangjiang. It crossed the mainland coast at 09:00 GMT with sustained winds of 89mph (144km/h) and higher gusts.

Wind speeds will gradually weaken now as the storm moves westwards over land, and the storm surge will start to ease, but rain will be torrential and slow moving across the region for several more days.

We're getting reports that Ragasa has now made landfall on the coast of Hailing Island, which is in Yangjiang city, part of China's southern Guangdong province.

The typhoon made landfall at around 17:00 local time (10:00 BST) today, and the maximum wind speed at time of landfall near the centre was 144km/h (89mph), said state broadcaster CCTV.

We'll bring you the latest on this as soon as we have more.

Image source, EPA

The Hong Kong Observatory says Ragasa has weakened from a super typhoon to a severe typhoon.

Ragasa is departing from Hong Kong gradually, the meteorological service says, but there is still danger with gale to storm force winds still affecting many places of the territory.

It forecasts frequent squally, or violent, rain showers and thunderstorms, with high swells on the seas that will overlap the shoreline.

The newly downgraded severe typhoon is forecast to continue to move west, edging closer to the western coast of Guangdong.

Since yesterday, residents in the Chinese city of Shenzhen have hunkered down as businesses, schools and transport were suspended in anticipation of Typhoon Ragasa.

About an hour ago, at 16:00 local time (08:00 GMT), the city ended its shutdown.

"Typhoon Ragasa is gradually weakening and moving away from our city," Shenzhen's disaster prevention authority said in a statement.

It added that the city's meteorological station has downgraded its typhoon warning from red - the highest level - to yellow.

Shenzhen, known as China's Silicon Valley, is home to the country's largest tech companies and electronics manufacturers. Many of them had told employees to stay home as Typhoon Ragasa approached China's southern coast.

Sarah Keith-Lucas
Lead weather presenter

Typhoon Ragasa has taken a turn towards the north on approach to the Guangdong coast, and is set to make to landfall earlier and further north than previously forecast.

The most damaging part of the storm know as the "dirty side" is now approaching Yangjiang.

Tropical storms including hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones have a "clean" side and a "dirty" side, and the dirty side can be 50% stronger than the clean side.

In the northern hemisphere, the right hand side of the storm (relative to its motion) is know as the "dirty side" and can be much more destructive than the left hand side.Read more here: Why the dirty side of Typhoon Ragasa is the most dangerous part

Image source, reuter

Taiwan Premier Cho Jung-tai has called for an inquiry into the disaster response after Typhoon Ragasa caused a barrier lake to burst its banks, unleashing floodwaters.

The death toll from the floods has risen to 15 people, and there are 17 people still missing, according to Taiwanese authorities.

All the casualties were from the township of Guangfu, which Cho visited on Wednesday, pledging support for affected families. Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim also visited the township to meet affected residents.

"For the 14 who have tragically passed away, we must investigate why evacuation orders were not carried out in the areas we had asked for, which led to such a tragedy," Cho told reporters before the toll rose to 15. "This is not about assigning blame, but about uncovering the truth."

Lok Lee
BBC Chinese, Taipei

Image source, Provided by interviewee

A high school in Guangfu township that was designated an evacuation centre is now flooded.

An administrator tasked with helping evacuees said that around 15:00 local time on Tuesday, he heard that the Matai’an Creek barrier lake had burst thorough its banks.

“There were no special flooding warnings and no broadcast,” he said. Moments later, flood waters reached the school.

“Within 10 minutes, the water spread to the campus from the street. The 400-sqm sports ground was submerged." 



Chairs, tables, refrigerators and even cars were soon floating.

“I was really shocked. It felt exactly like what we saw from the TV report of the tsunami after the 2011 Japan earthquake.”

He said officials may have underestimated Ragasa's impact - the lake, which was formed after a landslide two months ago, did not breach its bank when a weaker typhoon hit last month. 



"If I were still on the street, I wouldn’t have been able to reach higher ground," he said.

“There were lots of objects floating in the water. I could have been hit or even electrocuted."

Weather authorities have released illustrative maps showing where Super Typhoon Ragasa has already hit - and where it's headed next.

Having already barrelled through the north of the Philippines, the south of Taiwan and Hong Kong, the storm is predicted to make landfall on the south-eastern coast of mainland China today.

Come Thursday, the South East Asian nations of Vietnam and Laos are expected to be in the firing line.