Public utilities being restored in China's Hainan after Super Typhoon Yagi

Electricity, water and cell phone service are being restored in south China's island province of Hainan, where Super Typhoon Yagi wreaked havoc, killing four and injuring 95.

"People have generally calmed down," said Jiang Jianmin, deputy head of publicity at Hainan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, at a press conference held by the provincial government on Sunday. "Now we are trying to recover from the disaster."

The provincial electricity supplier is working to restore power supply as fast as possible. "Our employees cannot use air conditioners or fridges just like our clients so we can feel the urgency," said Zhao Youcheng from the Hainan Power Grid Corporation. "We have restored supply to 0.91 million of the 1.68 million affected clients."

Zhao added that the company will first restore supply to key infrastructure like water suppliers, hospitals and schools.

In terms of telecom services, over a quarter of cell sites were brought offline by the typhoon, according to Chen Xingwu, deputy head of communications in Hainan Province.

As of 6 p.m. on Sunday, nearly half of the offline base stations in Hainan have been brought back online, with total numbers reaching 14,000.

Chen suggested that people experiencing a weak cell phone signal try landline phones and fixed broadband internet connections.

The water supply in cities like Wenchang and Haikou was seriously damaged by the disaster. Though efforts have been made to restore the facilities, there are still roughly 63,000 people in 125 residential areas lacking water supply.

Local government estimates the supply will be back around midnight.

To cope with the destructive typhoon, Hainan Province allocated 1.1 billion yuan ($160 million) of funding before the disaster arrived, said Cai Shuyu, deputy head of finance in Hainan. With the support from central government, the province further allocated over 1.18 billion yuan ($170 million) for disaster relief.