Typhoon Nida swept through Hong Kong on Tuesday, shutting down most of the financial hub with gale-force winds and disrupting hundreds of flights, while low-lying areas were put on flood alert.
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It then moved further inland towards major cities in Guangdong like Guangzhou, Dongguan, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, and Shanwei – all of which are now on red alert.
Winds of up to 145 kilometers per hour (90 miles per hour) were reported in some parts of the city, according to the Hong Kong Observatory, which also warned of the potential risks of flooding.
Shenzhen airport canceled all flights from midnight Monday through Tuesday morning, while farther north in Guangzhou more than 600 high-speed train runs have been suspended, according to state-run news agency Xinhua.
The China National Commission for Disaster Reduction recommended that residents in the affected regions stock up on enough daily necessities for one to three days.
Passenger ships along the coastal areas of the region were also suspended yesterday and Nanning Railway Bureau canceled 194 trains.
The Airport Authority told HKFP that at least 325 flights departing from and arriving in Hong Kong between 6am to 9pm were rescheduled on Tuesday, and flights will be able to take off “depending on the situation”.
Almost 2,000 workers working on the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge were evacuated earlier, and more than 2,000 others working on an offshore oil platform were relocated on the weekend. “There may be flooding in low lying areas”.
It was the strongest typhoon to hit the Pearl River delta in 30 years, the China News Service cited experts as saying.
People walk past tree branches broken by strong winds caused by Typhoon Nida in Hong Kong, on Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016.
After sweeping past Hong Kong, Nida made landfall early Tuesday in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, with winds still blowing at up to 151 kilometres per hour.
The city’s ferry, tram and bus services gradually resumed in the afternoon after the Hong Kong Observatory lowered the tropical cyclone warning to 3 from 8, shortly after midday.
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The storm is now off the coast of the Philippines, and weather reports indicate it will also hit the financial centre Hong Kong.
