Among them was 28-year-old Hong Wei, who spoke to AFP while placing long strips of tape across the glass windows of a shop.
“This typhoon is quite powerful,” said Hong. “So we put some safety tape on the glass to prevent it from breaking up into many small pieces and flying around,” he said.
“We’re trying our best to avoid some safety issues … I’m quite worried.”
Nearby, workers at a tea shop piled outdoor furniture inside, while other businesses had shut early in anticipation of the storm.
But many locals in the typhoon-prone region told AFP that they weren’t too concerned about the reports, with one 20-year-old man in Zhuhai surnamed Huang telling AFP he was “used to it”.
But Huang said he still planned to take precautions: “I’ll stick some tape on my windows and stock up on various things. That’s very important.”
Shenzhen earlier ordered the evacuation of 400,000 people.
Emergency management authorities in the Chinese tech hub said that except for emergency rescue personnel and those ensuring people’s livelihoods, residents should “not go out casually”.
Other cities in the Southern province of Guangdong that are implementing the measures include Chaozhou, Zhuhai, Dongguan and Foshan.
In Hong Kong, classes were to be suspended on Tuesday and Wednesday, though the stock exchange adopted new rules this year to keep markets open during typhoons.
There were no flights out of Hong Kong after 10am GMT, according to the airport’s website. Cathay Pacific earlier said that more than 500 of its flights were set to be cancelled.
