Chinese authorities have earmarked 150 million yuan (about £16m) in disaster-relief funds to support rescue and recovery work in provinces hit by Typhoon Ragasa.

The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Emergency Management said the money will be directed to Guangdong, Hainan and Fujian, where it will be used for relocating residents, inspecting risks of secondary disasters, clearing hazards and carrying out emergency repairs.

Schools, factories and transport services were suspended in a dozen cities across southern China.

Some were preparing to reopen as conditions eased, but trains in neighbouring Guangxi will remain suspended on Thursday, officials said.

Typhoon Ragasa smashed into southern China on Wednesday, with a weather station in Guangdong recording wind gusts of 241kmph (150mph) – the strongest on record for the city of Jiangmen – as the storm left a trail of destruction across Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and the Philippines.

More than 2 million people were relocated across Guangdong province, state media reported, before the typhoon made landfall on Hailing Island in Yangjiang city at about 5pm local time.

State broadcaster CCTV said Ragasa struck with maximum winds of 144kmph near its centre, lashing coastal areas with violent gusts and torrential rain that reduced visibility to just a few metres.

Chim Lee, a senior energy and climate change specialist at the Economist Intelligence Unit, says authorities in South East Asia and East Asia have “taken lessons from [typhoons] Hato and Mangkhut, which both caused billions of dollars in damage in 2017 and 2018”.

“The Pearl River Delta is one of the best-prepared regions for typhoons, so we’re not expecting major disruptions.

“One change this year is that the Hong Kong stock market has stayed open during typhoons – a sign of how resilient the infrastructure has become,” he said.

A woman has recalled the “terrifying” moment that Typhoon Ragasa struck in Hong Kong.

Sarah Millson, 50, told the Standard that she was stuck inside her home with her family when the typhoon hit.

“It’s quite worrying because you never know what will fly off someone’s roof and that might land on your place. At some points it was quite terrifying hearing some of the noises coming from outside.

“There is a lot of flooding on this island. I know from the groups I’m on a lot of people who’ve lost WiFi and some lost electricity.

“For other people on the island who are more exposed on the hillside they probably would have had more damage than we did.”

Tens of thousands of passengers are likely to be stranded due to Typhoon Ragasa, with hundreds of flights grounded across east Asia, as well as many intercontinental connections to and from Europe.

Their rights depend on the airline they are travelling with, and also where their intended journey begins.

Read our article below for the key aspects.

The Philippines took a $104m (£77m) hit with the closure of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), that cut representing 95 per cent of the US overseas aid programme in the country.

At least 10 deaths from Typhoon Ragasa were reported in the northern Philippines, including seven fishermen who drowned after their boat was battered by huge waves and fierce winds and flipped over on Monday off Santa Ana in the province of Cagayan.

Five other fishermen remained missing, officials said.

Nearly 700,000 people were affected by the onslaught in the main northern Philippine region of Luzon, including 25,000 people who fled to government emergency shelters.