Severe Typhoon Mangkhut producing heavy flooding, building damage

Flooding and damaged buildings were reported across the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and South China's Guangdong province on Sunday, as Typhoon Mangkhut, a record storm bringing fierce winds and intense rain, sweeps past the Pearl River Delta.

Smashed windows, uprooted trees, swaying buildings, collapsing external walls, and flooded lobbies in residential estates, along with rough waves crashing against the breakwater, were seen from images and videos posted on social media across cities in the river delta.

In Hong Kong, by 2 pm, a total of 111 people - 60 men and 51 women - had sought medical treatment at public hospitals during the typhoon. There were 76 reported cases of fallen trees, the Hong Kong SAR government said.

As a heavy rainstorm affects the city, with more than 100 millimeters of rainfall recorded in the past few hours, the Hong Kong Observatory announced flooding in the northern New Territories at 11:25 am. The Drainage Service Department received five confirmed flooding cases by early Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the weather authority also issued a landslip warning at 2:20 pm.

It said Hurricane Signal No 10, the SAR’s highest typhoon signal, will remain in force in the afternoon.

Signal No 10 Super Typhoon Mangkhut wreaks havoc near Heng Fa Chuen, a private residential estate in Eastern District, Hong Kong Island. In August 2017, when Signal No 10 Super Typhoon Hato battered Hong Kong, the Heng Fa Chuen promenade was inundated, with sea water flowing into the estate and its underground car park. [Photo by Roy Liu / China Daily]

Typhoon Mangkhut, a severe storm named after the fruit mangosteen in Thai, was centered about 100 kilometers southwest of Hong Kong at average speeds of 118 kilometers per hour or more.

This is the first Signal No 10 typhoon to hit the region since Typhoon Hato seriously damaged the delta's west coast in August last year.

The Macao SAR issued a No 10 signal at 11 am. The SAR’s Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau issued a black storm surge warning at 2 pm and warned of possibly worse flooding in the city than last year’s Hato, which killed 10 people and caused billions in economic losses.

In Hong Kong, 745 residents were in temporary shelters set up by the government by early Sunday afternoon.

Signal No 10 Super Typhoon Mangkhut wreaks havoc near Heng Fa Chuen, a private residential estate in Eastern District, Hong Kong Island. [Photo by Roy Liu / China Daily]

In Guangdong province, governments of coastal cities, such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhongshan and Jiangmen, have announced the suspension of business, markets and schools.

All high-speed rail services are suspended on Sunday in Guangdong province, and thousands of flights were cancelled.

Zhou Jing, a 30-year-old endocrine physician at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, the provincial capital, was stranded in Shenzhen after visiting her husband on Saturday. Her bullet train to Guangzhou at 9 pm on Sunday was cancelled after the typhoon almost paralyzed the city.

Zhou’s hospital in Guangzhou, however, was open on Sunday. Zhou, who is supposed to be at the outpatient clinic at 8 am Monday, planned to take a regular train at 10 am Monday. She said she hadn't expected the typhoon to be this severe, and made another reservation for a high-speed bullet train on Tuesday just in case, hoping that high-speed train service will resume by then.

According to the current forecast from the National Meteorological Center, Mangkhut will be closest to the river delta in the next few hours and make landfall near Zhuhai and Wuchuan at dusk in western Guangdong province.