BEIJING, Sep. 26 -- Typhoon Damrey slammed into South China's Guangdong and Hainan provinces yesterday afternoon, wreaking havoc in the region.

    Damrey is expected to be the strongest tropical cyclone affecting South China in 10 years, according to a Xinhua report yesterday.

    Winds near the typhoon eye were up to 180 kilometres per hour yesterday afternoon, as it moved westward to the eastern shore of Hainan.

    At least one fisherman is missing after three fishing boats capsized in waters near Nan'o Island in Guangdong Province, while 16 others were rescued, sources from Guangdong Provincial Marine Rescue Center said.

    By yesterday evening, marine rescue workers were still searching for the missing fisherman.

    "The wind and the waves are really too strong to continue fishing in the sea," Xu Weisheng, a fisherman in Xuwen County, said yesterday.

    "It might cause marine accidents if fishing continues in such bad weather," he added. Xu had put his fishing boat in a local typhoon shelter on Saturday noon.

    The cities of Zhanjiang, Maoming and Yangjiang in the western part of Guangdong Province were hardest struck by the typhoon.

    According to an official from Guangdong Provincial Headquarters of Anti-Flooding yesterday, a total of 121,285 residents who were living along the coastal areas had been evacuated before the typhoon arrived.

    Many sections of coastal dikes, water conservancy facilities and reservoirs have been destroyed or damaged, while large amounts of crop land has been flooded.

    The raging typhoon also blew down many trees and advertisement boards in downtown areas, wrecking local traffic operation, the official said.

    In some parts of the cities, traffic was at a standstill after the streets and highways were flooded.

    Local governments are still busy calculating their casualties and economic losses, he added.

    The ferry service across Qiongzhou Straits was suspended from 11 am on Saturday, leaving many vehicles and passengers stranded in Leizhou Peninsula and Haikou, capital of Hainan Province.

    Damrey is the 18th typhoon to strike the Chinese coast this year.

    The typhoon has also caused wide spread economic losses in Hainan Province.

    The island province kicked off a secondary warning and emergency response mechanism for disastrous weather yesterday morning, as Typhoon Damrey swirled towards the island province at a speed of 15-20 kilometres per hour.

    (Source: China Daily)