Typhoon Hato sweeps HK, tropical cyclone warning issued

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has to stay in Hangzhou for another day due to flight cancellations, Radio Television Hong Kong reported.

The worst typhoon in five years has slammed into Hong Kong, China, hitting it with hurricane force winds and heavy rain.

The storm left at least 20 people in Macau injured. Separately, a 45-year-old mainland Chinese tourist was knocked down by a vehicle and died in an alleged hit-and-run incident.

“I’ve never seen one like this”, said Garrett Quigley, a longtime resident of the western Lantau island. “Cars are half submerged and roads are impassable with flooding and huge trees down”.

Most businesses closed and much of the city’s public transport shut down with the initial hoisting of the No. 8 signal.

Hato also brought large-scale power cuts to the gambling hub of Macao, where hotels were turning away customers because of power issues, the SCMP said.

This story includes reporting from the Associated Press.

The Macao Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (MGB) hoisted highest signal No. 10 at 11:30 a.m. local time (0330 GMT).

According to China’s People’s Daily, Typhoon Hato has landed in Zhuhai located in the southern province of Guangdong in China, packing winds with gusts of up to 162 kilometers per hour.

Air traffic was widely disrupted, with only a handful of flights able to land at Hong Kong International Airport before the storm approached.

The typhoon forced thousands of people to evacuate parts of the mainland coast to avoid the flooding associated with the storm. It bore down on the city with maximum sustained winds of 78 miles per hour and gusts of up to 129 mph.

Hong Kong Observatory reported water levels at 3.6m recorded at Quarry Bay. Typhoon Nida in August a year ago was the last storm to close the exchange for the whole day.

Cathay Pacific and Hong Kong airlines said nearly all flights leaving before 5pm were cancelled.

In response to Typhoon Hato, Hong Kong has cancelled flights, ferry and bus services.

The highest level warning was issued for the first time since Typhoon Vicente on July 24, 2012 and for only the third time since the handover of the territory’s sovereignty from the U.K.to China in 1997.

The city’s casino resorts typically have backup generators to supply power but some of the venues were also reportedly affected by the power outage.