People sit along a promenade next to Victoria harbour in Hong Kong on August 31, 2023, a day before the arrival of Typhoon Saola. (Photo by ISAAC LAWRENCE / AFP)
Hong Kong is making preparations for a possible direct hit by Super Typhoon Saola, which is shaping up to be the strongest storm to affect the city in at least five years.
The government said it will hold a press conference at 4:30 p.m. local time to brief the public on plans for coping with the typhoon, which is expected to be closest on Friday and Saturday. Schools will be shut on Friday, local media TVB reported, without citing anyone.
The local observatory raised the storm signal to No. 3, the second lowest level, at 3:40 p.m. and said it will elevate the alert on Friday to No. 8 - the threshold at which businesses close, including the $5 trillion stock market, and most public transportation is stopped. The latest forecast track has the eye of the typhoon passing over the southern part of the city either late Friday or early Saturday.
Saola has the potential to be the most powerful typhoon to hit Hong Kong since Mangkhut battered the city in 2018, which left roads blocked, buildings damaged and low-lying areas flooded. Saola earlier skirted past the Philippines and Taiwan.
The typhoon was about 390 km (242 miles) east-southeast of Hong Kong at 3 p.m. local time and is forecast to move west-northwest at about 10 km per hour. The storm is currently packing winds of 205 km an hour, according to its website.
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. expects to suspend flights starting Friday afternoon through Saturday morning because of the typhoon, according to a person familiar with the situation. The airline expects significant disruptions at Hong Kong International Airport and is working to keep aircraft out of the city for a period of time, according to information seen by Bloomberg.
Hong Kong is typically affected by about six typhoons annually, usually from June to October, but only a fraction of those result in market or school closures.
The last time was in July because of typhoon Talim.
A direct hit is rare. There have only been 16 maximum-level storms in Hong Kong since records began in 1946, including Hato in 2017 and Mangkhut the following year. Both of those were at least 60 km away from the finance hub at their closest, according to observatory data.
The No. 10 signal means hurricane force winds reaching a sustained speed of 118 km an hour are affecting the city.
According to Steven Lam, insurance analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence in Hong Kong, Saola’s speed and trajectory indicate that the storm may be as destructive as some of Hong Kong’s worst typhoons in recent times, such as Mangkhut and Hato.
"Saola’s damage could be comparable to Mangkhut and Hato, because it could be closer to the city and with slower movement than the prior two,” Lam said.
The financial hub will delay morning trading of stocks, bonds and derivatives if No. 8 or above is in force at 7 a.m., scraps the early session if the alert in force at 9 a.m, and cancels the afternoon session if the signal isn’t lowered to No. 3 or below by noon.
Trading halts due to severe weather are seen as increasingly antiquated given that the global finance industry adjusted to remote working during the pandemic. Financial Secretary Paul Chan said earlier this year that the city will explore arrangements to allow stock trading under inclement conditions.
Saola is expected to make landfall in the coastal areas of Guangdong and Hong Kong from Friday afternoon to night time, according to China’s National Meteorological Center. It suspended 121 trains, including the HK-China high-speed rail, until Wednesday, according to a statement.
China is also set to be affected by another typhoon nearer Shanghai, called Haikui. The country has activated a level four emergency response for floods in six provincial-level regions, including Guangdong and Shanghai, Xinhua reported on Wednesday. Haikui is forecast to affect the East China Sea around Sunday, it said.
"Typhoon Saola and Haikui could bring insurance claims exceeding $1 billion,” Bloomberg Intelligence’s Lam said.
China has been hit by bouts of extreme weather this summer which have caused flooding in the north that left dozens dead.
In the Philippines, the civil defense office reported Wednesday that 197,000 people had been affected by Saola, with farm damage from the super typhoon estimated at 189 million pesos ($3.3 million), mostly corn and rice.
