Super typhoon hits China and Hong Kong after 17 killed in Taiwan

At least 17 people have been killed in an area of Taiwan popular with tourists after super typhoon Ragasa lashed the island nation, with Hong Kong and mainland China also impacted.

The powerful storm - the strongest in years - has forced almost 1.9 million people in China to flee their homes, with flights cancelled and schools and businesses shut while about 70cm (28 inches) of rain fell on eastern Taiwan. At least 10 deaths have been reported in the Philippines, where nearly 700,000 people were affected by the super typhoon in the main northern region of Luzon.

Typhoon, hurricane or cyclone - what's the difference? The deaths in Taiwan were reported in the eastern Taiwanese county of Hualien, a beauty spot which is popular with tourists. The country's fire department initially said at least 152 people were missing after a town, Guangfu, was flooded by a deluge from a barrier lake, which burst its banks on Tuesday afternoon.

That total was revised down to 17 on Wednesday. Around 60 million tonnes of water was released, the Taiwanese government said, the equivalent of 36,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools or a major reservoir in southern Taiwan.

One resident, a postman who gave his family name as Hsieh, told Reuters news agency the water hit like a "tsunami" which swept his car into his living room. Elsewhere, Dama, a village of around 1,000 people, has been completely flooded.

Its chieftain, Wang Tse-an, told Reuters many locals are still stranded there, adding: "It's chaotic now. There are mud and rocks everywhere." Regions across Taiwan have sent at least 340 soldiers to Hualien to boost rescue efforts.

In Guangfu, troops operating from an armoured personnel carrier to avoid the thick mud on the streets went door-to-door handing out water and instant noodles. Taiwan's Premier Cho Jung-tai has called for an inquiry into what went wrong with evacuation orders.

Ragasa made landfall in the southern Chinese city of Yangjiang in the province of Guangdong on the South China Sea coastline at just before 5.30pm, local time, on Wednesday, the national meteorological centre said. Nearly 1.9 million people were relocated from Guangdong before it arrived.

Gusts of up to 150mph (241kmh) were recorded at noon by a weather station in Chuandao, while huge waves battered the city of Zhuhai's coastline and strong winds buffeted trees under intense rain. Read more on Sky News:Kimmel back on airUkraine 'can retake all lost land'Iconic Italian actress dies Hong Kong may have escaped the worst, as its observatory said the storm, which had maximum sustained winds near the centre of about 120mph (195 kph), skirted around 62 miles (100km) to the south of the area.

The city's storm level had been at its highest level of 10 as winds whipped waves taller than lampposts and people reported being woken by fierce gales in the early hours. Parts of a pedestrian bridge's roof were blown away, hundreds of trees were knocked down across the city and more than 60 injured people were treated at hospitals.

A video that showed waves of water crashing through the doors of a hotel and flooding its interiors went viral in the financial hub, where warnings of hurricane-force winds of well over 120mph have been issued. Ragasa is the strongest tropical cyclone in the northwestern Pacific and South China Sea region so far this year and the second-strongest since records began in 1950, the observatory said..