More than 500 flights have been cancelled at one of the world's busiest airports as Hong Kong prepares for Typhoon Mangkhut, which has already lashed the Philippines, killing at least 25 people.
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| A man walks past a building in Hong Kong with the windows taped in preparation for approaching Typhoon Mangkhut. |
Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan braced for Mangkhut as it moved across the South China Sea packing winds of nearly 200 kilometres per hour this afternoon.
The storm is predicted to pass Hong Kong today, bringing with it downpours and heavy winds, before slamming into the Chinese mainland on Monday morning.
Hong Kong residents taped up their windows and stocked up on water and supplies after authorities warned the storm could be one of the worst to ever hit the city.
Fierce waves pounded low-lying areas and strong winds rattled windows in many of the city's towering skyscrapers.
Some residents have been evacuated from low-lying areas, with storm surges of up to 3.5 metres expected.
More than 1,100 flights arrive and depart daily from the Hong Kong International Airport, servicing a population of over 7 million people.
Chinese authorities in Guangdong province have called back more than 30,000 fishing boats and taken precautions at two nuclear power plants that are in the storm's path.
China's National Meteorological Centre issued a red alert for the typhoon — the highest possible alert — on Saturday afternoon.
Tourism authorities in Yangjiang ordered 10 scenic spots and five beaches to close.
"Everyone is scared of the typhoon this time, very scared," a shop owner from a fishing village in Hong Kong said.
"When the waves come water will wash everything out. For us it's relatively fine, we're more worried about the elderly living in stilt houses who insist on staying.
"It's very dangerous that they don't want to leave their house."
Wind speeds had exceeded 300kph in the Philippines
Mangkhut was a category five typhoon when it crossed the coast in northern Philippines at about 1:40am (local time) on Saturday.
Philippines authorities said at least 25 people were killed, including a baby and a toddler, most of them in landslides in mountainous areas that left at least 13 missing.
"The landslides happened as some residents returned to their homes after the typhoon," disaster response coordinator Francis Tolentino said on DZMM Radio, adding that 5.7 million people had been affected and most were prepared.
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| The north of the Philippines, including Tuguegarao city, in Cagayan province, felt the brunt of Typhoon Mangkhut. |
"No matter how prepared we are, there is really some limitation."
Known locally as Ompong, the typhoon at one point had maximum gusts of 305km per hour before it exited the land area before noon, and moved towards southern China and Vietnam with reduced wind speeds of 170km per hour.
Rapid response teams were on standby with the air force for search and rescue missions as authorities undertook damage assessments in areas in the path of the storm, which felled trees, electricity poles and tore off shop signs and sheet metal roofs hundreds of kilometres away.
There was flooding in several provinces and parts of the capital Manila. Authorities were prepared to release water from several dams, fearing constant rains could push reservoirs to dangerously high levels.
Authorities confirmed that two rescue workers were killed while trying to free people trapped in a landslide in the mountainous Cordillera region, Ricardo Jalad.
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