HONG KONG -- A powerful typhoon swept south of Hong Kong and was moving toward a Chinese island province where it was expected to make landfall Friday, forcing many aspects of life in the region to a halt.

Hong Kong suspended stock market trading, bank operations, and school activities after the city's weather agency issued a No. 8 typhoon warning for Typhoon Yagi, the third-highest alert level under their weather system.

Yagi, with maximum sustained winds of 230 kilometers (142 miles) per hour near its center, prompted over 250 people to seek shelter at temporary government facilities and led to cancellations of more than 100 flights in the city.

Heavy rain and strong winds overnight caused numerous trees to fall across the financial hub before the weather calmed down on Friday morning. The weather forecasters were anticipated to lower the typhoon warning in the afternoon.

In Hainan, a tropical island in southern China popular for vacations, residents prepared for the powerful storm. The province's meteorological service projected Yagi's landfall between Wenchang city and Xuwen county in neighboring Guangdong province later Friday.

On Thursday, China's official Xinhua news agency reported that residents erected sandbag barriers outside buildings to prevent potential flooding and reinforced their windows with tape.

According to China Daily, a state-run media outlet, classes, work, transportation, and businesses in parts of the province were suspended as early as Wednesday evening. Certain tourist destinations were closed, and all flights at the province's international airport in Haikou city were grounded on Friday.

Despite weakening to a tropical storm, Yagi exited the northwestern Philippines and entered the South China Sea on Wednesday. The storm resulted in at least 16 fatalities and 17 missing individuals, primarily due to landslides and widespread flooding, impacting over 2 million people across northern and central provinces.

In Philippine provinces, over 47,600 individuals were forced to leave their homes. Educational institutions, workplaces, inter-island ferry services, and domestic flights were interrupted for multiple days, including in the densely populated capital region, metropolitan Manila.

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This report was co-written by Associated Press writer Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines.