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Chinese Cities Suspend Schools, Cancel Flights ahead of Super Typhoon Yagi

A man looks up on a promenade at Victoria harbor in Hong Kong on September 5, 2024, as super typhoon Yagi tracked across the South China Sea towards the southern China coast. (Photo by Dale DE LA REY / AFP)
A man looks up on a promenade at Victoria harbor in Hong Kong on September 5, 2024, as super typhoon Yagi tracked across the South China Sea towards the southern China coast. (Photo by Dale DE LA REY / AFP)
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Chinese Cities Suspend Schools, Cancel Flights ahead of Super Typhoon Yagi

A man looks up on a promenade at Victoria harbor in Hong Kong on September 5, 2024, as super typhoon Yagi tracked across the South China Sea towards the southern China coast. (Photo by Dale DE LA REY / AFP)
A man looks up on a promenade at Victoria harbor in Hong Kong on September 5, 2024, as super typhoon Yagi tracked across the South China Sea towards the southern China coast. (Photo by Dale DE LA REY / AFP)

Cities in southern China suspended schools and canceled some flights on Thursday, as tropical storm Yagi strengthened into a super typhoon and barreled straight for the holiday island province of Hainan.
Yagi triggered floods and landslides on the main Philippine island of Luzon this week, leaving at least 13 dead, according to official figures.
The tropical storm intensified into a super typhoon as it tracked west across the South China Sea, China's Xinhua news agency said, packing winds of up to 209 kilometers (130 miles) per hour as it headed for Hainan.
"Hainan upgraded its emergency response to Yagi to the highest level at 11:30 am Thursday, according to the provincial disaster management authority," Xinhua said.
The typhoon is expected to make landfall on Friday afternoon in either Hainan or neighboring Guangdong, AFP said.
Work, school and local transport services were suspended from Thursday noon (0400 GMT) in Haikou, Hainan's capital.
In Hong Kong, which Yagi is expected to bypass, the weather observatory said it will issue the city's third-highest typhoon warning at 6:20 pm (1020 GMT), limiting public transport across the finance hub.
Classes at kindergarten and special schools in Hong Kong were suspended Thursday, while budget airline Hong Kong Express said six flights have been rescheduled.
Greater Bay Airlines said they would cancel four flights and reschedule two more due to the weather.
"Yagi will remain at super typhoon intensity and skirt around 300 kilometers (186 miles) to the southwest of Hong Kong tomorrow morning," the observatory said.
"Gale winds associated with Yagi are expected to affect the vicinity of the Pearl River Estuary tonight and tomorrow morning."
After southern China, Yagi will move towards Vietnam, on course to hit the northern and north-central regions around the famed UNESCO heritage site Halong Bay.
Vietnam's meteorological agency issued a storm warning on Thursday, and the government mobilized more than 2,700 military personnel for storm response.
Coastal provinces are planning a sailing ban on Friday, while Vietnam's mountainous provinces were ordered to prepare rescue vehicles.

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Thailand Nets 1.3 Million Kilograms of Invasive Fish

This photograph taken on July 15, 2024 shows a man catching blackchin tilapia fish in a canal in Bangkok. (AFP)
This photograph taken on July 15, 2024 shows a man catching blackchin tilapia fish in a canal in Bangkok. (AFP)
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Thailand Nets 1.3 Million Kilograms of Invasive Fish

This photograph taken on July 15, 2024 shows a man catching blackchin tilapia fish in a canal in Bangkok. (AFP)
This photograph taken on July 15, 2024 shows a man catching blackchin tilapia fish in a canal in Bangkok. (AFP)

Thailand has netted more than 1.3 million kilograms of highly destructive blackchin tilapia fish, the government said Tuesday, as it battles to stamp out the invasive species.

Shoals of blackchin tilapia, which can produce up to 500 young at a time, have been found in 19 Thai provinces, damaging ecosystems in rivers, swamps and canals by preying on small fish, shrimp and snail larvae.

As well as the ecological impact, the government is worried about the effect on the kingdom's crucial fish-farming industry.

Fishing authorities caught 1,332,000 kilograms of blackchin tilapia between February and August 28, according to Nattacha Boonchaiinsawat, the vice-president of a parliamentary committee set up to tackle the spread of the fish.

"We talked to local residents and found out that the spread of tilapia has got worse -- they found them in small canals, which was not the case before," he told AFP.

The outbreak of tilapia will cost the Thai economy at least 10 billion baht ($293 million), Nattacha said.

The fish, native to West Africa, were first discovered in Thailand's rivers in 2010 before spreading rapidly in 2018, and are now also found in the US state of Florida and in the Philippines.

In July, the Thai government declared the eradication of the species a national priority and began encouraging people to consume the fish.

Promotional activities in central Phetchaburi province advertised tilapia-based fish sauces and sausages.

Restaurants have also increasingly used the fish in cuisine, fried with garlic or sun-dried.

It remains unclear how the fish arrived in Thailand, but local media reports have said they could have been imported by a company from Ghana in 2010.

A parliamentary investigation is under way to determine the cause of the infestation, Nattacha said.

The Thai government has encouraged locals to catch the fish, offering to pay people 15 baht ($0.42) per kilogram.

It has also designated 75 vending areas around the country where the fish can be sold.

Authorities have released predator species to hunt down the tilapia and are also developing genetically modified blackchin tilapia to produce sterile offspring.

A UN science panel warned last year that the tilapia are spreading faster than ever, wrecking crops, distributing disease and upending ecosystems.

More than 37,000 alien species have taken hold far from their places of origin, costing upwards of $400 billion a year in damages and lost income, the UN panel said.