The cleanup from Typhoon Mangkhut began yesterday in Hong Kong and southern China after the storm left at least four dead in Guangdong Province, damaged buildings and disrupted flights throughout the region.
Mangkhut, the world’s most powerful storm this year, was blamed for more than 200 million yuan (US$29.1 million) of damage in Guangdong, China Central Television reported.
The weakened remnants of Mangkhut were in Pingguo County, Guangxi Province yesterday afternoon.
Photo: AFP
In Hong Kong, the Observatory lowered the storm warning to No. 1 at 2:40pm.
Parts of Hong Kong and Macau were severely flooded, although there were no immediate reports of any fatalities.
Stock and financial markets opened as normal in Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
Photo: AFP
Macau’s casinos reopened after a 33-hour shutdown that was estimated to cost operators as much as US$186 million in revenue.
However, authorities in Macau were still struggling to restore power to some of the 20,000 households that suffered power cuts.
Flights in and out of the region are gradually resuming.
Photo: Reuters
“Mangkhut brought considerable damages to Hong Kong,” the Observatory said in an advisory yesterday. “There may still be risks in the surroundings.”
Mangkhut had shut Hong Kong all day on Sunday after the Observatory gave the storm its highest warning signal.
Hong Kong escaped the brunt although media reports showed images of apartment building windows being blown out, trees toppling, scaffolds collapsing and a crane falling off a building at a construction site.
Storm surges raised sea levels as much as 4m higher than usual in Victoria Harbour, the Observatory said.
All schools in Hong Kong were closed yesterday and some of the territory’s bus and railway services remain suspended. Hundreds were stranded in railway stations in the New Territories.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) urged companies to show understanding and adopt a flexible approach to staff who have difficulties getting back to work.
Hong Kong Disneyland and Hong Kong Ocean Park were shut for clean-up.
Hong Kong International Airport was trying to get business back to normal. More than 1,400 flights had been canceled across the region, according to Flight Aware.
Cathay Pacific Airways and other airlines said they expected a gradual return to scheduled operations, but there would be continued delays and some cancellations.
Some flights at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport also resumed yesterday, according to the airport’s Web site.
More than 2.45 million people were relocated in China and more than 48,000 fishing boats returned to ports in Guangdong Province as of 5pm on Sunday, when Mangkhut made landfall.
The Philippines was worst hit, particularly the northwest as the death toll topped 50 with 49 people still missing. The government put losses to the nation’s agriculture sector at 4.99 billion pesos (US$92 million), almost all of it rice, and 175,301 hectares of farm land.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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