Typhoon Utor messes up the city

It’s the first severe typhoon in 13 months.

The Hong Kong Observatory raised storm signal No 8 at 1.40 am today as Severe Typhoon Utor came to within 300 kilometers of Hong Kong. The strong wind signal No 3 was in force yesterday as heavy rain and powerful winds whipped the city.

As of 3:00 am today, the powerful typhoon was located some 300 kilometers south southwest of Hong Kong and headed towards Guangdong. It is expected to make landfall in Guangdong this evening.

Strong winds and heavy rainstorms smashed into Hong Kong today and bad weather was forecast to last until tomorrow.

Utor is the fifth tropical cyclone of the year that has required a typhoon signal be raised, and is the first severe typhoon to approach in 13 months.

Cathay Pacific cancelled 15 incoming and outgoing flights today and a similar number of Dragonair flights are also affected. Bangkok, Beijing, Shanghai, Manila, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo are among the routes affected.

Inter-island ferry services were all suspended by the early hours of this morning and services between Hong Kong and Macau stopped at 1.30 am.