Super Typhoon Yagi – the world’s second most powerful tropical cyclone this year – has damaged a newly built Chinese space port in the southern island province of Hainan.
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On Friday Yagi, which had winds of around 245km/h (152mph) near its centre, made landfall in Wenchang, a city that hosts several space facilities, including China’s first international commercial space launch centre, the Wenchang Aerospace Supercomputing Centre.
The site has two launch towers, one dedicated to servicing the state’s Long March 8 rockets, while the other services both public and private rockets, including a Long March 12 that was due to make its debut launch later this year.
On Saturday, the city’s deputy mayor, Wei Bo, said the typhoon had posed a “serious threat” to facilities and equipment at the commercial space hub but emergency restoration work was being carried out.
A spokesperson for the launch centre told the Post that much of the city is experiencing flooding and power cuts, but most of its equipment and facilities are intact.