More than 300 flights cancelled & delayed as typhoon usagi hits China Published on : Sunday, September 22, 2013 The Typhoon, graded the world’s strongest typhoon this year while passing Taiwan, was about 90 kilometers northeast of Hong Kong and moving west-northwest at about 22 kilometers an hour, the weather bureau said at 11 p.m. local time yesterday. Hong Kong raised its third-highest storm signal, with the city invigorating for floods and hundreds of flights canceled, as Severe Typhoon Usagi made landfall in southern China. Cathay Pacific Airways and its Hong Kong Dragon Airlines unit stopped some flights yesterday. Air China cancelled 148 flights yesterday as airports in Xiamen, Shantou, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Hong Kong and Macau were affected. Travelers should read effective airline advisory about the updated information of cancelled/delayed flights. The city’s observatory said “Gales are blowing over many places of Hong Kong, reaching storm force over offshore waters and high ground, with gusts reaching hurricane force.” The government opened temporary shelters, with 209 people seeking refugee. It received 12 reports of fallen trees. Usagi made landfall in Shanwei city in China’s southern province of Guangdong at 7:40 p.m. local time. It was expected to move northwest at a speed of about 20 kilometer an hour, and its strength will constantly weaken before it leaves Guangdong today as a tropical storm. Thousands of people were evacuated from low-lying coastal areas in the province; the flood-control headquarters ordered reinforced patrols so that emergency repairs could be carried out to prevent embankment breaches. While passing Taiwan, it had sustained wind speeds of 205 kilometers per hour, making it a super typhoon, according to a tracking map on the Hong Kong Observatory website. The country’s disaster agency said that in the Philippines, flooding forced 242 people in the north of the country to flee their homes for temporary shelters on September 18. According to the weather bureau, Hong Kong, situated off China’s southern coast, gets on average about six tropical cyclones annually.
Posted on: Sun, 22 Sep 2013 22:25:26 +0000
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