Super Typhoon Yagi: Hong Kong back in business after trees toppled, 9 hurt and flights axed
Classes and trading suspended, but residents rush back to work as city emerges from world’s second-strongest tropical cyclone this year
Hong Kong slowly returned to normality on Friday afternoon as Super Typhoon Yagi departed after strong winds and heavy rain led to more than 100 trees being toppled, nine people suffering injuries and dozens of flights being axed.
The Observatory downgraded its typhoon warning to No 3 at 12.40pm on Friday as Yagi, the world’s second-strongest tropical cyclone this year, headed towards mainland China’s Hainan province.
School classes and trading on the stock market were suspended for the day, with a former assistant director of the weather forecaster saying the impact could have been far more severe if the storm had edged closer.
“During typhoons, we worry about storm surges and flooding from seawater,” said Leung Wing-mo, now a spokesman for the Meteorological Society. “This time, again, the storm is rather distant from Hong Kong, so we did have some storm surges, but they were not too severe.”
Yagi was located about 510km (317 miles) west-southwest of the city at 10pm on Friday and was forecast to be moving west-northwest at about 18km/h (11mph).
The storm came within 330km of the financial hub at its closest point, far enough for the city to escape the worst of the onslaught, according to Leung.
