HONG KONG (AP) – Most of Hong Kong and other parts of southern China ground to a near standstill on Friday with classes and flights cancelled as powerful Typhoon Saola approached.
Many workers stayed at home and students in various cities saw the start of their school year postponed to next week.
Trading on Hong Kong’s stock market was suspended and hundreds of people were stranded at the airport after about 460 flights were cancelled in the key regional business and travel hub. Rail authorities in mainland China suspended all trains entering or leaving Guangdong province from yesterday night to today evening, state television CCTV reported.
The Hong Kong Observatory issued a No 9 storm signal, the second-highest warning under the city’s weather system.
It said Saola – with maximum sustained winds of 210 kilometres per hour – would be closest to the financial hub at around midnight, about 40 kilometres south of the city’s Tsim Sha Tsui shopping district. The eyewall of Saola was moving across the city at around 8 pm bringing torrential rain to the territory, it said.
The observatory’s director, Chan Pak-wai, said the alert might be upgraded to a No 10 signal if the winds strengthened further.
A No 10 hurricane warning was last issued when Super Typhoon Mangkhut hit Hong Kong in 2018.
Chan expected that winds would gradually weaken today as the typhoon moves away from
Hong Kong. The observatory warned of serious flooding in coastal areas and said the maximum water level might be similar to when Mangkhut felled trees and tore scaffolding off buildings in the city.
In recent months, China has experienced some of its heaviest rains and deadliest flooding in years in various regions, with scores killed, including in outlying mountainous parts of the capital, Beijing.
As Hong Kong braced yesterday for heavy rains and strong winds, about 330 people sought refuge at temporary shelters and ferry and bus services were halted.
Residents of low-lying areas placed sandbags at their doors to prevent their homes from being flooded. Three men were injured and sought treatment at public hospitals.
Classes at all schools will remain suspended today.
But some residents, including security guard Shirley Ng, still had to go to work yesterday. Ng said people were stocking up on food to prepare for the storm. “I just hope that the typhoon won’t cause causalities.”
