Super Typhoon Mangkhut now smashing Hong Kong

Hong Kong was hit by heavy wind and rain on Sunday (September 16) causing extensive damage as “super typhoon” Mangkhut hurtled by the city.

Authorities hoisted the highest No. 10 tropical cyclone signal at 9:40 a.m. (0140 GMT), warning residents to be mindful of safety and to avoid waterfront areas.

The super typhoon has caused windows to shatter and construction cranes to collapse in several districts.

Public transportation has been halted in most areas of the city, with the majority of residents staying inside.

Typhoon Mangkhut rocked Hong Kong en route to mainland China, lashing its coastline and sending skyscrapers swaying, after killing at least 30 people in the Philippines and ripping a swathe of destruction through its agricultural heartland.

The world’s biggest storm this year left large expanses in the north of the Philippines’ main island of Luzon underwater as fierce winds tore trees from the ground and rains unleashed dozens of landslides.

As the storm passed south of Hong Kong, trees were snapped in half and roads blocked, while some windows in tower blocks were smashed and some skyscrapers swayed, as they are designed to do in intense gales.

The Philippines was just beginning to count the cost of the typhoon, but police confirmed at least 30 were killed when it smashed into northern Luzon on Saturday.

In the town of Baggao, the storm demolished houses, tore off roofs and downed power lines. Some roads were cut off by landslides and many remained submerged.

Farms across northern Luzon, which produces a large portion of the nation’s rice and corn, were sitting under muddy floodwaters, their crops ruined just a month before harvest.

Nearly five million people, almost a quarter of whom live on just a few dollars per day, live in the storm’s path.

An average of 20 typhoons and storms lash the Philippines each year, killing hundreds of people.

The latest victims were mostly people who died in landslides, including a family of four. In addition to the 30 killed in the Philippines, a woman was swept out to sea in Taiwan.

The country’s deadliest storm on record is Super Typhoon Haiyan, which left more than 7,350 people dead or missing across the central Philippines in November 2013.

(Source: Agencies)