Vehicles drive through a flooded area in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, July 20, 2025. Typhoon Wipha, the sixth typhoon of the year, made landfall near Jiangmen City in south China's Guangdong Province around 5:50 pm on Sunday, according to the Guangdong provincial meteorological observatory. Photo: Xinhua

Typhoon Wipha made landfall along the coast of Taishan in South China's Guangdong Province on Sunday evening, prompting emergency responses including the suspension of production and business, and class cancellations across multiple regions affected. 

According to China's National Meteorological Center (NMC), this year's No.6 typhoon Wipha made landfall at around 5:50 pm, with the maximum wind speed near its center reaching 33 meters per second. After making landfall, Wipha weakened from typhoon level to a severe tropical storm, China Central Television reported on Sunday. 

The Guangdong provincial flood control, drought relief and wind prevention command headquarters has dispatched 10 working groups to key cities to supervise typhoon prevention efforts. Four cities - Zhuhai, Yangjiang, Jiangmen and Maoming - along with 15 districts and counties, have activated Level I emergency response for typhoon prevention.

As of 1 pm on Sunday, 669,162 people had been evacuated across Guangdong including 12,036 from offshore areas and 657,126 from land-based areas.

According to the Guangdong provincial meteorological observatory, following Typhoon Wipha's landfall, the main period of rainfall will occur from the night of Sunday to Monday. Heavy to very heavy rain is expected in western Guangdong and the southern cities and counties of the Pearl River Delta.

According to NMC, Wipha will sweep from east to west across the western coast of Guangdong and move into the Beibu Gulf during Monday daytime before heading toward the northeastern coast of Vietnam. 

Due to the influence of Wipha, heavy to torrential rain is expected in multiple places in the southern part of the country, with precipitation ranging from 250 to 320 millimeters in some localized areas of northern Hainan and the southwestern coastal areas of Guangdong. 

The Office of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, together with the Ministry of Emergency Management, continues to coordinate and deploy efforts for Typhoon Wipha prevention. As of 10 am on Sunday, the headquarters raised the emergency response for flood and typhoon control to Level III in Guangdong and Hainan, while maintaining Level IV in Guangxi. A working group dispatched by the office remains on the ground in Guangdong to assist and guide local typhoon prevention and response efforts, CCTV reported. 

China Railway Guangzhou Group Co announced the suspension of multiple railway lines on Sunday and Monday in response to the impact of the typhoon. 

The Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link also implemented traffic control measures starting Sunday, with the entire route temporarily closed. The specific time for its reopening will be announced based on the development of the typhoon.

As of 2 am on Saturday, 523 fishing vessels at sea had returned to port for shelter from the typhoon. A total of 1,482 offshore wind power construction workers, 9,272 fish farm workers, and 1,282 marine ranch personnel had come ashore to seek safety. Additionally, 52 coastal scenic areas were closed, according to CCTV.

The Guangdong Provincial Fire and Rescue Corps has pre-positioned 14,203 personnel, 3,088 vehicles, 662 boats, and 66,491 pieces of rescue equipment in key coastal cities, according to China News Service on Sunday. 

Cities in the province, such as Zhuhai and Yangjiang, implemented citywide suspensions of classes, operation, production, transportation and business since Sunday morning, while Shenzhen closed all its parks starting at 6 pm on Saturday and opened all indoor emergency shelters across the city. 

Meteorological experts said that Wipha could possibly make landfall in Guangdong more than once, posing a serious threat of strong winds and heavy storms to the province.

Even after it makes landfall in Guangdong, the typhoon will continue to bring rain to Fujian. Over the next 10 days, there will be a period of heightened typhoon activity, with new typhoons likely to form, a weather forecaster surnamed Chen from the Fujian Provincial Meteorological Observatory told the Global Times on Sunday.