A man walks through gale-force winds as Typhoon Haima makes landfall on the South China coast, in Hong Kong, October 21, 2016. [Photo/IC]

"The strong gale almost blew me away," said Huang Rongjun, a resident in the city of Shanwei, after Typhoon Haima made landfall in Guangdong province.

"I was all wet when I returned home at noon, and I saw many umbrellas blown away, as well as some billboards and tree branches taken down by the storm," said the young woman worker. "Many people will have to stay at home on Friday night due to the bad weather."

According to an engineer surnamed Zhang in charge of equipment operation and maintenance at a local wind power station in Shanwei, the power grid has been shut down since Thursday night.

"The power of Haima is as strong as that of Typhoon Usagi in 2013, when more than 10 power-generating equipment of our plant were blown down by the strong wind, resulting in economic losses valued at millions of yuan," Zhang told China Daily on Friday.

Haima, meaning sea horse in Chinese, made landfall in Houmen township in Shanwei at 12:40 pm on Friday. It has caused widespread economic losses and wreaked havoc in Guangdong's eastern coastal cities.

Haima, the 22nd typhoon to hit the Chinese coast this year, is the strongest one to strike Guangdong province in late October.

Government departments are still busy calculating the direct economic losses caused by Haima. In Hong Kong, the government received at least 197 reports of fallen trees in the city, and 12 people were injured as of 4 pm.

According to Guangzhou Railway Group, all passenger train services in Guangdong's eastern coastal areas ceased on Friday.

More than 570 flights in Shenzhen had been canceled as of 9 am on Friday because of Haima. Shenzhen Baoan International Airport did not resume departure service until 6 pm.

China Southern Airlines also canceled flights in Jieyang airport on Friday.

In Hong Kong, at least 742 flights were canceled as of 2 pm, according to the Airport Authority of Hong Kong.

Liang Jian, chief forecaster with the Guangdong provincial meteorological observatory, said Haima is expected to weaken in Jiangxi province on Saturday morning after more than 12 hours of lashing Guangdong.

But the eastern and northern parts of Guangdong will witness downpours in the next one or two days, Liang said.

He Guoguang, an official in charge of flood relief with the Guangdong provincial department of water resources, urged relevant departments to introduce effective and concrete measures to prevent possible flooding in major rivers and landslides in the mountainous cities in the coming two days.

The Hong Kong Observatory raised a No 8 storm signal early on Friday morning, as Haima approached. Gales and heavy rains caused disturbances across the city.

In a Wellcome supermarket store in Hung Hom, Kowloon, a cashier surnamed Chan, who had worked the day shift since 6 am, said she had been so busy that she hardly had time to go to the bathroom.

Shelves for vegetables and meats were almost empty while there was no evident price hike. She said the checkout line never seemed to end and she felt exhausted.

However, prices of vegetables in wet markets went up around 10 percent on Friday.