After first leaving at least 54 people dead and 49 people missing in the Philippines, Typhoon Mangkhut continued to cause destruction in Hong Kong and parts of the southern coast of China on Sunday.
Facing one of the most powerful storms on record to hit Hong Kong, the city may have managed to avoid serious casualties but still endured extensive damage that could take days to recover from.
Mangkhut triggered the No. 8 signal at 1:10 a.m. as a super typhoon in Hong Kong. It reportedly weakened slightly into a severe typhoon six hours later and then raised to the highest level at 9:40 a.m. as it generated wind speeds of 175km/h (108mph).
Hong Kong residents were forced to stay indoors the entire day as the city was shut down with under a No. 10 warning signal, according to South China Morning Post.
Videos of the widespread destruction caused by the typhoon’s 250 km/h (155 mph) winds in Hong Kong and mainland China soon surfaced on local social media.
This is Hong Kong 🇭🇰 today. I’ve lived here for 5 years in the past. I’ve never seen such weather in my life. Ever anywhere !! #Mangkhuthk #mangkut #MangkhutTyphoon All hell has broken loose. pic.twitter.com/coHiQREHpi
— Sara Taseer (@sarataseer) September 16, 2018
Twitter users posted footage of the heavy rains and powerful winds shredding trees and toppling structures.
Scaffolding collapse at a building site in Kowloon pic.twitter.com/O69ILlXOJr
— 高地柏啲 (香港) (@HighlandPaddyHK) September 16, 2018
High-rise buildings can be seen swaying, with windows breaking and scaffolding flying off skyscrapers, while roads were blocked by severe flooding and fallen trees.
Well, our hotel is now flooding. #shenzhen #TyphoonMangkhut #SuperTyphoonMangkhut #dameisha pic.twitter.com/VPw9PRdHSp
— Matt Bossons (@MattBossons) September 16, 2018
So many crazy typhoon #Manghkut videos going around. Amazing to see this in Hong Kong which usually weathers them quite well. Shudder to think that this might become the new normal. pic.twitter.com/TjiYhhbI0Q
— Paul Mozur (@paulmozur) September 16, 2018
Throughout the day, emergency responders from the rescue 999 hotline were swamped with calls by the affected residents. Rescuers responded to residents of over two dozen neighborhoods in low-lying coastal areas which were left in waist-deep flooding.
In Hong Kong, over 200 people were brought to the hospital for treatment, while 17 were reportedly injured in neighboring Macau.
We might have survived the monster typhoon #mangkhut yesterday but the gov’s decision of not declaring a holiday today appears to be more disastrous.. pix taken by Sam Tsang of @SCMPNews in Tai Wai Station. poor Hongkongers… pic.twitter.com/rgeg7QvEYN
— Jeffie Lam (@jeffielam) September 17, 2018
Someone’s apartment in the east side of HK pic.twitter.com/2LaVZm2RX1
— Jen Zhu (@jenzhuscott) September 16, 2018
Starting a thread of various videos today in HK and Shenzhen as the world’s strongest storm #TyphoonManghkut wiping our cities. (Videos are not mine but collected from messages doing the rounds w WhatsApp and WeChat) pic.twitter.com/FXU5ITrFqN
— Jen Zhu (@jenzhuscott) September 16, 2018
As roads and tunnels were left clogged with debris by Monday, a massive cleanup was started in Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, the backlog of 889 canceled flights may take a couple of days to clear up, according to the Airport Authority.
