Tropical Storm Ragasa is moving toward northern Vietnam, threatening to drench the capital of Hanoi with heavy rain, after weakening overnight as the system tracked across southern China.
The storm was near Beihai, packing maximum sustained winds of 75 kilometers (47 miles) per hour as of 9 a.m. local time, according to a forecast from the Hong Kong Observatory. The system tracked into the Gulf of Tonkin during the early hours on Thursday, and is currently skirting the Chinese coast.
Ragasa was the most powerful storm worldwide this year and has left a trail of destruction from the Philippines to Taiwan and Hong Kong. The deadly typhoon led to thousands of flight cancellations, along with the suspension of school classes and rail services across cities in southern China, including Macau.
Insurance claims in Hong Kong could span from $50 million to $100 million, which would be lower than Super Typhoon Mangkhut’s $492 million in 2018, according to Steven Lam, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence.
The China Meteorological Administration has issued heavy rain warnings for parts of six southern provinces, with Guangxi set to see the heaviest deluge of as much as 250 millimeters (9.8 inches) through Friday morning.
The Vietnamese weather agency warned that parts of the country’s north could get rainfall exceeding 450 millimeters through Friday evening, as well as flash floods and landslides. On its forecast track, Ragasa is set to cross into Vietnam on Thursday and then dissipate over land.
Bankers and traders in Hong Kong hunkered down in hotels and living rooms on Wednesday after the city ended its decades-long practice of shutting markets during severe storms last year. Ragasa downed trees across the city and caused widespread damage to infrastructure, including some restaurants.
Insurance claims in Hong Kong could span from $50 million to $100 million, which would be lower than Super Typhoon Mangkhut’s $492 million in 2018, according to Steven Lam, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. A significant portion of the claims could be due to storm surges, he added.
Another tropical storm is currently brewing in the seas east of the Philippines and is expected to track over the country and enter the South China Sea over the weekend. The system is forecast to track far to the south of Hong Kong, but will strengthen into a typhoon as it approaches Vietnam, dumping heavy rain across the same region being drenched by Ragasa.
The system is then set to make landfall as a tropical storm over north central Vietnam on Monday, according to the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
Photograph: A fallen tree during Super Typhoon Ragasa in Hong Kong on Sept. 24, 2025; photo credit: Lam Yik/Bloomberg
Copyright 2025 Bloomberg.
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