Typhoon Mangkhut Batters Hongkong and Southern China
Typhoon Mangkhut battered Hong Kong and threatened the southern coast of China on Sunday (Sept 16), after cutting a destructive path through the Philippines and killing dozens of people there.
The storm had weakened overnight but was still a severe typhoon, with gusts of up to 160 mph (257kmh), Hong Kong authorities said. Buildings in the city swayed, trees were downed, windows shattered and hundreds of flights were cancelled.
Hong Kong is used to fierce storms, but as Typhoon Mangkhut began battering the city on Sunday, this one felt different. Wind gusts as strong as 160mph swept through the city’s canyons of tall buildings, and fuelled storm swells that threatened the coastline with waves as high as 40feet (12m).
At midday, the city’s normally teeming streets were devoid of people and cars. The weather authority issued its highest typhoon warning, a signal 10. For the first time ever, Macau, the Asian gambling capital farther along the Chinese coast, closed its casinos because of a storm. Hong Kong residents hunkered down in their apartments, having cleared many grocery-store shelves the day before in preparation for the typhoon. Others took refuge in shelters.
The city’s airport, a central transit point for much of Asia, was virtually shut down, with 543 flights cancelled, disrupting nearly 100,000 travellers. The outdoor sections of the city’s vaunted subway system were taken out of service.
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