Super typhoon lashes Taiwan, Philippines, threatens Hong Kong
The Associated Press
Published Saturday, September 21, 2013 7:12AM EDT
Last Updated Saturday, September 21, 2013 10:42AM EDT
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The most powerful typhoon of the year swept through the Luzon Strait separating the Philippines and Taiwan on Saturday, battering island communities with heavy rains and strong winds as it headed straight for Hong Kong.
Typhoon Usagi weakened from a super typhoon -- those with sustained winds of at least 241 kilometres per hour -- and veered westward during the day, likely sparing southern Taiwan from the most destructive winds near its eye. At least two people were killed in the Philippines, and two others were missing.
By Saturday evening, the storm had maximum sustained winds of 173 kph and gusts of up to 209 kph , and was 150 kilometres southwest of Taiwan's southernmost point, the Central Weather Bureau said.
A woman and her child hold their umbrellas tight against powerful gusts of wind as typhoon Usagi approaches in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2013. (AP / Chiang Ying-ying)
Typhoon Usagi hits the Philippines
Strong waves hit students and volunteers joining the international coastal clean-up day at the polluted Manila bay, Philippines on Saturday Sept. 21, 2013. (AP / Aaron Favila)
But gusts exceeding 230 kph were recorded on the Taiwanese island of Lanyu, with dangerous winds buffeting the holiday resort of Kending on the Hengchun peninsula as the storm made its closest approach to the area.
The Hong Kong Observatory said Saturday night that Usagi was 570 kilometres east-southeast of the city. It said the storm's maximum sustained winds would weaken to 165 kph as it approaches Hong Kong on Sunday afternoon before making landfall overnight. The observatory was maintaining a No. 1 Standby Signal and warned that the storm posed a "severe threat" to the city.
Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair said flights Saturday were unaffected except for one cancelled flight, but both airlines said flights to and from Hong Kong International Airport would be cancelled from 6 p.m. Sunday and resume Monday if conditions permit.
China's National Meteorological Center announced a red alert, its highest level, as the storm maintained its track toward the manufacturing heartland of the Pearl River Delta. The observatory warned Usagi would impact coastal areas of Guangdong, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces.
In Taiwan, more than 3,000 people were evacuated from flood-prone areas and mountainous regions as the government deployed military personnel into potential disaster zones. The storm system dumped up to 520 millimeters of rain along the eastern and southern coasts in a 20-hour period, with officials warning that more than 1,000 millimeters could drop before the storm leaves Sunday.
Local officials closed mountain highways blocked by landslides and suspended train services connecting the east and west coasts as power outages and rising floodwaters affected thousands of homes.
Rivers swollen with fast-moving water and debris thrown down from steep and unstable mountain catchment areas threatened bridges on both sides of the island.
In the Philippines, a 50-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman drowned when a passenger boat capsized in rough waters off northeastern Aurora province, the Office of Civil Defence said Saturday. Two other people were missing, while the nine other passengers and crew were rescued from the boat, which capsized Friday.
The typhoon blew out of the country late Saturday after triggering landslides and floods, uprooting trees, and damaging houses, roads and bridges in parts of the northern and central Philippines.
Usagi has a massive diameter of 1,100 kilometres, with its outer rain bands extending across Luzon, all of Taiwan and more than 100 kilometres into China's interior, satellite images showed.
Hong Kong hunkers down for Typhoon Usagi
AFP Updated September 22, 2013, 7:39 pm
HONG KONG (AFP) - Severe Typhoon Usagi barrelled towards Hong Kong on Sunday, shutting down one of the world's busiest sea ports and throwing flight schedules into disarray from Europe to the United States.
Usagi -- which means rabbit in Japanese -- packed winds of 165 kilometres (103 miles) per hour as it closed in on China's densely populated Pearl River Delta, forcing some residents in vulnerable areas to tape up windows and stock up on supplies.
The storm, described by meteorologists as the most powerful anywhere on Earth this year, killed two people in the Philippines and unleashed landslides in Taiwan en route to Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong Observatory, issuing the second of a five-step tropical storm warning, said it was likely to bring "severe" disruption to the city with transport systems affected and expectations of high waves and flooding in low-lying areas.
At the Chek Lap Kok airport, airline counters were besieged by anxious passengers hoping to rebook their flights after the Cathay Pacific group said it was cancelling all its flights from 6:00 pm (1000 GMT) Sunday.
With many other airlines following Cathay's lead, only a handful of flights were still scheduled to land or take off after 6:00 pm. Incoming flights from London, Sydney and Chicago among other cities were cancelled, and thousands of people risked being stranded at their point of origin or in Hong Kong.
Operators at Hong Kong's maritime cargo port, one of the busiest in the world, ceased work late on Saturday, stranding many giant tankers in sea channels not far from shore.
The financial hub is well versed in typhoon preparations and enforces strict building codes, so rarely suffers major loss of life as a result of tropical storms.
But the observatory warned against complacency, saying that Usagi was set to become the strongest storm to hit Hong Kong since 1979 when typhoon Hope killed a dozen people and injured 260.
Usagi was located about 240 kilometres (150 miles) east of Hong Kong as of 4:00 pm (0800 GMT) and was expected to make landfall in the coming hours. The observatory said a "number eight" storm signal was possible, which would shut down most public transport on Sunday evening.
China's National Meteorological Centre issued a "red alert" -- its highest-level warning -- as it forecast gale-force winds and heavy rain.
Sunday was a regular day of business in China but in Xiamen city, on the coast of Fujian province, authorities called off school classes and suspended ferries to Taiwan.
On its way to Hong Kong and southern China, Usagi forced the evacuation of some 3,400 people in southern Taiwan, dumped more than 70 centimetres (27 inches) of rain on Hualien city, and forced more than 100 flights to be cancelled to and from the island.
A mudslide hit one hotel in a popular hot-spring resort area of Taiwan's Taitung county late Saturday, shattering windows and damaging some furniture.
"I heard a loud sound and (the mudslide) came through the windows of the restaurant in the back. Our customers were safe but we estimate losses of Tw$1.5 million ($50,000)," a hotel worker told reporters.
Remote villages elsewhere in Pintung county suffered heavy flooding.
"I thought a tsunami was hitting... I've never encountered this before in my life," said a 60-year-old woman who scrambled to safety with her pet dog.
Nine people were injured in Kinmen, a Taiwan-controlled island off China's Fujian province, after they were hit by falling trees, according to the Central Emergency Operation Centre.
But in the Taiwanese port of Kaohsiung, a giant yellow duck designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman -- which has already proved a huge hit in Hong Kong -- was set to be reflated for public viewing as wind speeds ebbed.
Prior to Taiwan, Usagi brushed the far north of the Philippines where a man and a woman drowned when their boat capsized in high seas. Another two people are missing from the mishap.
Authorities in the Batan and Babuyan island groups, which are populated by about 33,000 people, reported toppled power pylons as well as houses, schools and government buildings losing their roofs to Usagi's high winds.
"Some roads are impassable due to debris, landslides and flooding. Local disaster officials told us this was the strongest typhoon they had experienced in years," regional civil defence officer Ronald Villa told AFP.
The region is regularly pummelled by tropical storms. Typhoon Bopha left a trail of destruction in the southern Philippines last year, triggering floods and landslides that left more than 1,800 dead and missing and displaced nearly one million people.
