Typhoon Megi, a super typhoon, has regained strength and is headed for southern China after wreaking havoc across the northern Philippines. Chinese State television CCTV said 75,000 fishing vessels had returned to ports in Guangdong and Hainan province, while on the tropical resort island of Hainan, vulnerable to heavy flooding, 200,000 people had been evacuated from low-lying areas. Typhoon Megi, which killed 19 people in the Philippines and destroyed thousands of homes, looked set to make landfall on Saturday (October 23) east of Hong Kong, one of the world's most crowded cities long used to cyclonic storms which usually threaten between May and September when the sea waters are at their warmest. Five Hong Kong oil terminals shut down operations on Thursday, forcing tankers to anchor offshore to ride out one of the biggest typhoons to threaten the South China coast in years. Neighbouring Taiwan also warned shipping companies of high winds and strong waves. A ship that sank in the Taiwan Strait earlier this week killed one on board. Typhoons usually weaken significantly after making landfall in China, but sometimes do a u-turn and regain strength from the warm sea water to threaten once again.
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