Typhoon No. 18 of the year 2025, named “Hua Jia Sha” (super typhoon category), made landfall along the coast from Taishan to Zhanjiang in Guangdong Province on the afternoon and evening of September 24th. In preparation for the arrival of Typhoon “Hua Jia Sha,” residents of high-rise buildings along the coast in Zhuhai evacuated for the first time in 30 years, and multiple hotels were fully booked.
On the afternoon of September 23rd, a circulated notice online revealed that residents of high-rise buildings along the coast on Lovers Road in Zhuhai were required to evacuate. According to reports from “Red Star News,” many residents of high-rise buildings along the coast in Zhuhai received evacuation notices from WeChat groups and property personnel yesterday.
Ms. Li, who lives in the Poly Champagne International Garden in Jinwan District, mentioned that on the afternoon of the 23rd, they received a notification from the community staff to evacuate. Residents of Unit 2 in Buildings 7 and 9 were advised to prepare for evacuation and suggested to move to low-rise buildings below the 7th floor or hotels with 3 to 6 floors located in non-coastal areas.
Ms. Li expressed that after living in Zhuhai for 30 years, it was the first time their family encountered a situation where they needed to evacuate due to a typhoon. Currently, they have relocated to the gymnasium of the Jinwan School for refuge. She mentioned that several communities along Jinwan Road also received evacuation notices.
A resident of a high-rise building along the coast in Xiangzhou District of Zhuhai also stated that they received a notice yesterday afternoon. Residents living above the 30th floor (including the 30th floor) along Lovers Road were required to evacuate, while residents living on the windward side facing the sea on floors 10 to 29 had to evacuate as well; and residents on floors below the 9th floor who faced the sea were mobilized for evacuation.
In response, the Xiangwan Subdistrict Office of Xiangzhou District stated that the evacuation was indeed happening, and community workers have collaborated with property management to notify residents door-to-door. Currently, most of the residents who were notified to evacuate in Xiangzhou District are from high-rise residential buildings facing the sea or from some older residential complexes.
It was mentioned that residents of high-rise buildings could relocate to emergency shelters such as relatives’ homes, hotels, or schools among 50 designated locations. According to a media inquiry, several hotels including the Golden Bay area’s Hua Fa’s Merchant Hotel were fully booked.
“Hua Jia Sha” is known as the “King of Winds” globally this year. As reported by the official news agency CCTV, the center of “Hua Jia Sha” officially landed along the coast of Hailing Island in Yangjiang City of Guangdong Province around 5 pm on the 24th. At the time of landing, the maximum wind speed near the center was 13 on the Beaufort scale (40 meters/second, typhoon level), with the minimum central pressure of 955 hPa.
In the afternoon of the 24th, several netizens from Zhuhai posted videos showing that the Grace Coast on Lovers North Road in Zhuhai was experiencing seawater backflow, with the “coastal park destroyed, roads filled with sea water, flooding into residential areas.”
A Zhuhai netizen living on the 25th floor also expressed, “The whole building is swaying, and I feel dizzy. The balcony doors are about to give in!”
The related topic quickly trended on Weibo. Netizens expressed various opinions, such as, “It seems like choosing high-rise apartments is not a good idea,” “High-rise buildings bring a lot of trouble,” “The disadvantages of sea view apartments are showing now,” “I was still debating between the top floor and the second floor today, but now I won’t hesitate,” “Low floors fear flooding, high floors fear strong winds, it’s really tough,” “Houses nowadays are really poor quality, feeling so insecure, it’s scary just to look at.”