Hongkongers told to prepare for worst as Super Typhoon Mangkhut hits Philippines
Observatory issues No 1 warning signal and southern Chinese provinces call on residents to brace for torrential rain, floods and landslides
The Hong Kong and mainland Chinese governments warned officials to “prepare for the worst” on Friday as thousands of people were evacuated from their homes in the Philippines during a direct hit by Super Typhoon Mangkhut.
The Hong Kong Observatory warned of hurricane-level winds in excess of 118km/h as atmospheric experts expected Mangkhut would regain strength over the South China Sea. At 10.20pm it issued the typhoon signal No 1, while the storm was more than 1,000km from the city – the furthest out a storm has ever been when the signal went up.
The Observatory predicted the storm would move northwest at about 28km/h towards the northern part of Luzon, the Philippines’ most populous island, and enter the South China Sea at about 2pm on Saturday, getting closest to Hong Kong on Sunday afternoon.
“As the wind and rain brought by Mangkhut are expected to come in extraordinary speed, scope and severity, I have ordered all parties to prepare for the worst,” Hong Kong’s security minister John Lee Ka-chiu said, after a second meeting with more than 30 bureaus, official departments and public organisations in three days.
Lee said each department would be better prepared than it was for Super Typhoon Hato last August. Hato, which killed 10 people in Macau, caused businesses and schools in Hong Kong to close for several days.