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| Satellite image of Ragasa at 3am, Wednesday |
Hurricane-force winds and heavy rain are lashing Hong Kong as Super Typhoon Ragasa continues to move closer to the city. The highest-level No 10 signal was raised at 2:40am on Wednesday, just one hour after T9 was issued.
The Hong Kong Observatory has warned the strongest
weather warning is likely to remain for some time as Ragasa (rapid flow in
Filipino) comes closest to the city later this morning, bringing with it strong
winds, relentless downpour and thunderstorms.
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| Basahin ang detalye! |
At 3am, Super Typhoon Ragasa was centered about
130km south-southeast of Hong Kong. It is expected to move west-northwest at
about 22 km per hour, which means it would come closest to the city and the
rest of Western Guangdong at about 9am.
In the past hour, maximum sustained wind speed at Waglan Island was 120 km/hr with gusts of over 143 km/hr. Earlier, maximum sustained wind speeds near Ragasa’s center reached 220 km/hr.
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| HK Observatory photo of Ragasa's approach |
All schools and offices will remain closed for the
day, and there will be limited public transportation, if at all.
It is the second time that the No 10 signal has been raised this year, with the first one being issued for Typhoon Wipha in
July.
Reports say it is the first time in more than 60
years that two T10s have been issued in the city within a year. In 1964, the
highest-level storm warning was raised for Typhoon Ruby and Typhoon Dot.
Forecasters say Ragasa is one of the strongest typhoons to have been recorded globally this year. But since it entered within 400 km of the city only late in the afternoon, the damage has been minimal so far.
As of 2am, the Hospital Authority said five people
had sought treatment at public hospitals. These included a family of three who
were rescued after falling into the sea off Chai Wan.
Authorities received 15 reports of fallen trees and
one report of a landslide.
