Hainan is completely locked down. If you plan to fly out of Sanya or catch a ferry across the Qiongzhou Strait, your plans are officially ruined.
Tropical Storm Maysak made landfall on the southeastern coast of China's island province at around 6:20 p.m. on Friday, striking Yelin township in Lingshui Li Autonomous County. Packing maximum winds of 23 meters per second (about 51 mph) near its center, Maysak isn't the strongest monster storm the region has seen, but its sluggish pace makes it incredibly dangerous. The National Meteorological Center warned that slow-moving moisture could dump a massive 350 mm of rain within a single 24-hour window.
Local authorities aren't taking chances. They describe the unfolding flood prevention task as severe and complex. Here is what's happening on the ground and what you need to know if you're caught in the disruption.
The Complete Gridlock of Hainan Transport
Hainan is an island, meaning when transit stops, you are stuck. The provincial government triggered aggressive Level III typhoon alerts and halted basically every major artery moving people on or off the island.
- The Air Travel Grounding: Sanya Phoenix International Airport completely halted all arrivals and departures starting at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. This wasn't a sudden surprise; 92 flights were already canceled by midday as the outer bands started lashing the runways.
- The Ferry Blackout: Passenger and vehicle ferry services across the Qiongzhou Strait—the vital water link to mainland Guangdong—went dark at 2:00 a.m. on Friday. Expect this shutdown to last at least 24 to 48 hours until the waves die down.
- The Rail Freeze: The island's famous round-island high-speed railway is dead silent. All train services connecting Hainan to the mainland were canceled for Friday and Saturday, forcing cross-strait trains to terminate far away in Guangzhou or Zhanjiang West.
Why This Weak Storm is Causing Massive Panic
Maysak is technically a tropical storm or a weak typhoon depending on which tracking agency you look at. It isn't a Category 5 super typhoon. So why the red alerts for flash floods?
It comes down to meteorology. Maysak is moving at a crawl—just 10 to 15 kilometers per hour. Because it lingers over the warm waters and terrain, it acts like a giant sponge, wringing out endless torrential rain over the same spots. Compounding the issue, the storm is interacting with the regional summer monsoon. This combo is pulling moisture way inland, threatening to worsen flooding as far north as the Yangtze River basin over the weekend.
Sanya, Wuzhishan, Ledong, and Baoting are currently sitting under the highest-risk red alert zone for catastrophic flash floods and landslides. Schools and daycares are locked tight in these counties. Sanya even banned all outdoor, mountain, and river tourism activities. If you're a tourist huddled in a hotel room right now, the ocean views are gone, replaced by a wall of gray water.
Where Maysak Headed Next
Maysak will continue its sluggish journey northwest across the island, tearing through Baoting, Wuzhishan, Baisha, and Danzhou.
By Saturday evening, it will emerge into the Beibu Gulf and make a second landfall near the Guangxi-Vietnam border. Emergency response networks are already active in neighboring Guangxi and Guangdong provinces, anticipating that Maysak’s trailing rainbands will dump heavy precipitation across southern China well into Monday.
If you're currently stranded in Sanya or Haikou, stay away from coastal seawalls and mountain roads. Do not try to book a quick exit until the Qiongzhou Strait ferry operators officially announce a reopening window late Saturday or Sunday. Keep your phones charged, monitor the Hainan Meteorological Service updates, and wait out the deluge.
