El Nino effect: Hong Kong sees fewer typhoons and below half the usual rainfall for August and September

Only one tropical cyclone has directly affected Hong Kong so far in 2015, below the annual average, as El Nino moves typhoons away from the city.

As Taiwan braces for the impact of Typhoon Dujuan, its fifth typhoon in less than three months, a Hong Kong Observatory spokesman said the city has had only a fifth of its average tropical cyclones so far this year.

The only storm to come within 500 kilometres of Hong Kong in the past nine months was Typhoon Linfa, which passed the city in early July.

"Two others, Kujira in June and Soudelor in August, stayed just slightly further than 500 kilometres away from our territory earlier this year," the spokesman said. But as a result of unusual weather conditions in 2015, Hong Kong has seen fewer typhoons and a big drop in rainfall during the past two months.

According to the Observatory, between 1961 and 2010 there was an average of about five typhoons directly affecting Hong Kong between January and September.