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Typhoon York, the most powerful storm to hit Hong Kong for 16 years, killed one man, left another missing and caused a trail of destruction yesterday.

 More than 490 people were hurt, windows were blown out of offices and hundreds of power cuts reported.

 The storm forced the hoisting of the No 10 hurricane signal for the first time since Typhoon Ellen killed 10 people in 1983.

 Security guard Chu Siu-wai, 66, was killed yesterday when he was hit on the head by an object in King Lam Estate, Tseung Kwan O, at 6am on his way to work. He bled to death. A windsurfer, 22, was missing last night after disappearing off Cheung Chau.

 By the time the No 10 signal was replaced by a No 8 at 5.45pm, it had been in force for 11 hours - the longest period since records began in 1946.

 The No 8 was replaced with a No 3 at 10.10pm as York began to disintegrate over the mainland. All signals were lowered at 12.45am.

 Legislators, businessmen and sailors called on the Observatory to improve its alert system after complaints of insufficient warning. The SAR went to sleep on Wednesday night with a No 3 signal hoisted, but awoke yesterday to the fury of York's 140km/h winds.

 'We were caught by the erratic behaviour of York,' Observatory senior scientific officer Leung Wing-mo said.

 The No 8 signal went up at 3.15am and the hurricane signal at 6.45am, with the eye of the storm passing over Hong Kong Island at about 10am.

 Five crew were rescued from a mainland river freighter, Tsang Hon 9038, which sank west of Lantau. Three other vessels - a crane ship, a liquefied petroleum gas carrier and a small container ship - ran aground, Lloyd's Shipping Intelligence Service said.

 Insurers last night began adding up the damage. The bill is expected to run into hundreds of millions of dollars.

 The storm shattered windows in Central Plaza in Wan Chai and frames were ripped from the Revenue and Immigration towers and other blocks.

 The stock exchange, banks, schools, government offices and firms closed for the day. The Mark Six draw was postponed.

 The airport remained open during the storm, but no passenger jets landed or departed until 9.17pm, when Korean Air flight KE605 arrived from Seoul. There were more than 466 cancellations and delays.

 The Government activated its disaster bunker, the Emergency Monitoring and Support Centre, and manned it with 20 staff to co-ordinate its response to the typhoon.

 As flooding struck northern parts of the New Territories, firemen in dinghies rescued 10 people from two Sheung Shui villages.

 The injured jammed hospitals, with 493 people receiving treatment by last night, mostly for minor injuries. Seven women and four men were in a serious condition last night, including a man struck by a piece of metal near the Great Eagle Centre in Wan Chai.

 CLP Power received 7,000 calls complaining about power failures, many of which left people stuck in lifts.

 Boats were badly damaged at the Hebe Haven marina in Sai Kung - one of the owners, police Senior Inspector Gus Scott, said the Observatory should have given more warning of the storm to allow the boats to be secured.

 Observatory senior scientific officer Chan Yuk-kwan said no warnings were necessary on Wednesday night as York, then a severe tropical storm, was stationary 160km out to sea and weather conditions in Hong Kong were 'very quiet'.

 'If it had hit Hong Kong [then], certainly it wouldn't have caused much damage,' he said.

 The storm began to move after midnight, intensified into a typhoon and sped up.

 'It was quite erratic. It changed direction frequently and changed speed,' he said.

 Legislative Council security panel chairman James To Kun-sun said the Observatory should provide more information.

 General Chamber of Commerce director Dr Eden Woon Yi-teng said the decision-making process for typhoon warnings needed 'tinkering'.

 In May, Dr Woon said he had received a lot of informal complaints from business people about the raising of the No 8 typhoon signal for a tropical storm. The Observatory subsequently apologised.

 York was the second typhoon to hit in less than four weeks. A China Airlines MD-11 crashed on landing during Typhoon Sam on August 22, killing three people and injuring 212.



1 dead, 490 hurt as York batters SAR