Typhoon No 1 standby signal issued for Hong Kong
City could be hit with strong winds and rainfall as early as Thursday night
The Observatory issued the No 1 standby signal at 8.40pm on Thursday, as a tropical storm closed in on the city.
Watch: Aere’s advance
The Observatory said tropical storm Aere – meaning “storm” in the Marshallese language of the central Pacific Ocean – was moving across the northern part of the South China Sea and would come within about 400km of Hong Kong if it followed its predicted track.
As of 5pm on Thursday, Aere was located 480 km from the city, southwest of Taiwan. It is expected to gradually move nearer to Hong Kong and slow down towards Hainan province.
“Aere will intensify in the coming few days,” the Observatory’s senior scientific officer Song Man-kuen said.
The forecaster added that it expected Aere’s reach to be relatively small. The storm’s interaction with a northeast monsoon currently over southern China, however, could affect how significantly it affects local weather.