Rising winds were heralding the approach of Tropical Storm Conson; and at the Hong Kong Observatory, where banks of television monitors line one wall of its nerve centre, staff were braced for the start of this year's typhoon season. All eyes were on the biggest screen, which showed a large red spot moving across the ocean. The buzz of discussions between scientific officers dies down as Observatory director Dr Lee Boon-ying presides over an update from his chief lieutenants on Conson's advance.
'We are on 24-hour standby, and my living quarters are right next to this office building. It's been like that since 1883,' says Lee.
The Observatory occupies a 127-year-old Victorian structure on top of Mount Elgin. At the time, it was the highest point in Tsim Sha Tsui and overlooked all of Victoria Harbour. The view has since been obscured by ever higher skyscrapers but the Observatory is the only government service still working out of its original premises.
Surprisingly, typhoons weren't on the agenda of the first Observatory chief, then called the Government Astronomer. But it wasn't long before tracking the region's fierce tropical storms became a priority, says Lee.
In 1906, a severe typhoon caught Hong Kong unprepared; it struck Victoria Harbour at midday as sampans and fishing boats were plying the waters and left 10,000 people dead. The pattern of destruction was repeated in 1937 when a typhoon made landfall at Tolo Channel, causing another 10,000 deaths.
Rapid satellite images now make it easy to see when storms are building up over the ocean and issue early warnings. Predicting the ferocity of a storm and deciding when to raise warning signals, however, hasn't got any easier.
