China hit by first typhoon of year

STORY: Footage showed residents in Hainan being evacuated from rising flood waters. Hainan upgraded its emergency response to Level II, the second-highest, on Saturday. It suspended railway service across the island and cancelled more than 400 flights to and from the cities of Haikou and Sanya.

Typhoon Chaba, the Thai name for the hibiscus flower, was moving northwest at 10 to 15 miles per hour after the eye of the storm made landfall in Guangdong's Maoming city on Saturday afternoon, the National Meteorological Center said in a statement.

Chaba, though medium in intensity and expected to lose strength over time, is likely to bring extremely heavy rains and may break the record for cumulative rainfall as it pulls the monsoon rain belt in the region inland, said Gao Shuanzhu, the center's chief forecaster.