Ferocious wind and rain as super typhoon brings megacities to a standstill

In the end, the damage wrought by typhoon Ragasa, on mainland China at least, was not as bad as many had feared, but its power still brought multiple megacities to an almost complete standstill.

The city of Zhuhai, just across the water from Macao, is one such example.

On our drive in, we passed street after street of shuttered businesses, debris littering the roads, and precious few other vehicles.

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People here had either been evacuated or told to stay at home and, by and large, they listened.

And you can see why.

The wind and the rain were ferocious.

Even some time after the eye of the storm had passed, the gusts were still plenty strong enough to knock you off balance.

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They are used to typhoons in this part of the world, and they are well prepared for them, but experts say the regularity and intensity of storms like this are increasing.

Indeed, Ragasa is the ninth typhoon to have hit Hong Kong this year and the annual average is normally six.

A growing problem for this hugely populous region.