From the Philippines, Typhoon Haima is now slamming in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong is in lockdown as Typhoon Haima batters the city, after the storm, locally known as Lawin the Philippines, leaving numbers of deaths and worth of damages.
As of now, more than 700 flights to and from Hong Kong were cancelled or delayed. As the storm passed east of the city and hit southern mainland China, roads were clear of cars while schools and offices shut down.
Trading on the stock exchange of the city was also cancelled on Friday.
Due to strong winds, trees fall on the ground, and waves crashed over coastal roads.
The typhoon has made landfall near Shanwei in China’s southern Guangdong province.
According to the Hong Kong Observatory, at 5:00 pm (1400 GMT) Haima’s center was moving away from Hong Kong and was 160 kilometres (100 miles) to the northeast.
On Friday afternoon, Hong Kong was still under a Number 8 storm, the third-highest warning level.
The observatory cautioned the public to stay away from the shoreline due to rough seas.
With wind gusts up to 101 kilometers per hour, rain poured down into the late afternoon in the city.
The authorities cancelled ferry services including the city’s famous cross-harbor Star Ferry.
Underground metro train services were also reduced and operations of all buses cancelled.
Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong’s flagship carrier, said it expected “significant disruptions” to its flights between 11:00 am and 10:00 pm (0300 GMT to 1400 GMT) Friday.
More than 20 shelters was set up by the government and the city is expected to remain in lockdown for most of Friday until the storm p(–foul word(s) removed–).
When it hit the Philippines late Wednesday night, Haima was categorized as a supertyphoon, putting for the first time some provinces under storm signal number 5.
It destroyed tens of thousands of homes while at least seven people are reported dead so far.
Haima means “seahorse” in Chinese.
