HK braces itself as another major storm approaches

HONG KONG • Hong Kong battened down its hatches yesterday evening for the second time in less than a week as an approaching tropical storm prompted forecasters to raise their alert level and trigger safety measures.

Tropical Cyclone Kompasu - named after the Japanese pronunciation of "compass" - is the second major storm in five days to threaten the international business hub with torrential rain and high winds.

The Hong Kong Observatory raised its warning signal from No. 3 to No. 8 (T8) - its third-highest storm warning - at 5.22pm, although skies were clear at the time. The order stopped ferries and many bus routes from operating, although the city's subway system continued running.

Schools had already sent students home earlier in the day, ahead of the order, with many offices following suit.

Last Saturday, forecasters also declared a T8 warning when the outskirts of another tropical storm, dubbed Lionrock, pounded the city with torrential downpours and high winds.

Although the epicentre of that storm remained hundreds of kilometres to the south of Hong Kong, the T8 warning lasted for 22 hours, the longest typhoon signal since 1978, bringing some 460mm of rain over two days.

Many residents were taken by surprise at the ferocity of Lionrock, which first began battering the city with heavy rain last Friday.

One woman was killed that morning when some 30 stories of bamboo scaffolding surrounding one of Hong Kong's many towering housing blocks collapsed in the high winds and tumbled onto a winding hillside road below.

The Hong Kong Observatory came under fire for not issuing a T8 earlier, but forecasters said the winds had not picked up to the speed where such a warning was warranted. The No. 8 signal means that winds with mean speeds of 63kmh or more are expected.

The facility added that storms like Lionrock were becoming harder to predict and model for, partly because of climate change.

"It was a very special case," observatory director Cheng Cho-ming told reporters. "In terms of predicting such an extreme situation, it was very difficult."

Scientists have long warned that typhoons are becoming more powerful, and strengthening more rapidly, as the world becomes warmer because of man-made climate change.

Meanwhile, Hainan's provincial meteorological authority said Kompasu is expected to make landfall in the coastal areas from Wenchang city to Lingshui Li autonomous county between this afternoon and tonight.

In the Philippines, at least nine people were killed and 11 others missing after Kompasu drenched swathes of the most populous island of Luzon on Monday as it swept across the archipelago nation towards the South China Sea, flooding villages and triggering landslides in its wake, the authorities said yesterday.

"Eleven municipalities were flooded, but it subsided this morning," Cagayan provincial information officer Rogelio Sending told AFP yesterday.

Separately, in north China's Shanxi province, continuous rainstorms have left at least 15 people dead and three others missing, the provincial government said at a press conference yesterday .

From Oct 2 to 7, Shanxi experienced the strongest autumn flood on record. Continuous rainfall has affected nearly 1.76 million residents in 76 county-level regions across the province, and 120,100 people have been relocated.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, BLOOMBERG, XINHUA