Hong Kong hit by rain as Typhoon Wipha skirts past
HONG KONG: Hong Kong was battered by strong winds and heavy rain on Sunday as Typhoon Wipha skirted along China's southern coast, with fallen trees and collapsed scaffolding spotted across the city.
Wipha was located around 140 kilometers (87 miles) to Hong Kong's southwest as of 5 pm (0900 GMT), according to the city's weather observatory. Hong Kong's highest tropical cyclone warning, T10, was in effect for around seven hours but was downgraded to the third-highest T8 warning at 4:10 pm as Wipha departed the city. 'Gale to storm force southeasterly winds are still affecting parts of the territory occasionally,' the observatory said.
'The intense rainbands of Wipha are persistently affecting the vicinity of Pearl River Estuary.'
Neighboring casino hub Macau issued its own top-level typhoon warning shortly after noon, with authorities suspending all public transportation services. China's Hainan and Guangdong provinces were earlier put on high alert, according to state news agency Xinhua. In Hong Kong, more than 250 people sought refuge at government-run temporary shelters. Officials said they received more than 450 reports of fallen trees and a handful of flooding reports, including at a main thoroughfare in the Wong Tai Sin district. A representative from Hong Kong's Airport Authority earlier said that around 500 flights have been cancelled due to the weather, while around 400 flights were scheduled to take off or land later in the day.
Authorities suspended Sunday's classes at all day schools and daycare centers. Local trains offered limited services while operations in open sections were suspended. Wipha also brought heavy rains and flooding to the Philippines, where two people have been reported missing, according to the country's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. Hong Kong last hoisted the T10 warning signal for Super Typhoon Saola in 2023. — AFP
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Kuwait Times
4 hours ago
- Kuwait Times
Turkey records its highest-ever temperature
GURSU: A horse gallops past residents and firefighters attempting to extinguish a wildfire in a forested area in the Gursu district of Bursa early on July 27, 2025. – AFP ANKARA: Turkey has recorded its highest-ever temperature as a blistering heatwave continues to grip the country, the Ministry of Environment announced Saturday. Meteorological data confirmed a reading of 50.5°C in the southeastern district of Silopi, located in Sirnak province near the borders with Iraq and Syria, surpassing the previous national record of 49.5°C registered in August 2023. In a statement posted on its official account on X (formerly Twitter), the ministry added that 132 weather stations across the country recorded new temperature highs for the month of July. The sweltering conditions have triggered a series of wildfires in several regions, placing immense pressure on emergency services and prompting evacuations. Firefighters have been battling a blaze for four consecutive days in Karabuk province in northern Turkey, with several villages evacuated as flames threatened residential areas. In Eskisehir province, 10 individuals tragically lost their lives on Wednesday while attempting to contain another fire. With temperatures expected to remain high in the coming days, several municipalities have imposed restrictions on water usage, including in the popular coastal resort town of Cesme near Izmir on the western coast. Neighboring Greece is also facing extreme temperatures and continues to battle wildfires in various regions. In light of the worsening situation, the Kuwaiti Consulate General in Istanbul on Sunday issued an advisory urging Kuwaiti citizens in Bursa province to exercise extreme caution. The consulate called on nationals to avoid areas affected by forest fires or regions in close proximity. In a statement posted on its social media platforms, the consulate stressed the importance of adhering to the safety instructions issued by local Turkish authorities in Bursa, and urged citizens to remain vigilant. It also provided emergency contact numbers: - Consulate General Emergency Line: +90 530 690 2097. - Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs Emergency Line: +965 159. Forest fires erupted on Saturday evening in the cities of Orhaneli and Gursu in Bursa province, northwestern Turkey, spreading to several residential neighborhoods. — Agencies
Kuwait Times
4 hours ago
- Kuwait Times
Greece gets EU help to battle deadly wildfires
A helicopter drops water to a forest over trees following a wildfire near Psachna Village on Evia (Euboea) island, the second-largest Greek island, on July 27, 2025. -- AFP ATHENS: Greece on Sunday was battling wildfires that have ravaged homes and sparked evacuations, with Czech firefighters and Italian aircraft being deployed to help. Firefighters were working on five fire fronts late Sunday in the Peloponnese area west of Athens, as well as on the islands of Evia, Kythera and Crete. 'Today is expected to be a difficult day with a very high risk of fire, almost throughout the territory,' fire brigade spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said, though he added that the situation was improving. Forecasters predicted that strong winds that have been fanning the flames would die down on Sunday in most areas. But they warned that Kythera, a popular tourist island with 3,600 inhabitants, continued to face 'worrying' conditions. Evacuation messages were on Sunday sent to people on the island, which lies off the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese. Giorgos Komninos, deputy mayor of Kythera, told the state-run ERT News channel that half of Kythera had been charred. 'Houses, beehives, olive trees have been burnt,' he said. ERT reported that a broad fire was still burning on the island late Sunday, but in smaller fronts and the situation was improving. Dozens of firefighters supported by three helicopters and two aircraft were battling the Kythera blaze, which erupted Saturday and forced the evacuation of people stranded on a popular tourist beach. Local authorities have requested a state of emergency so that stepped-up assistance can be provided for the island, which was previously stricken by a major fire in 2017. Eleven regions of Greece still face a very high fire risk, according to officials. Greece requested EU help on Saturday and two Italian aircraft were expected to arrive on Sunday, the fire brigade said. Units from the Czech Republic were already at work. Numerous flare-ups were reported overnight on the island of Evia, near Athens, where flames laid waste to swathes of forest and killed thousands of farm animals. Workers have toiled throughout the day to repair serious damage to Evia's electricity network and some villages were facing water supply disruptions. — AFP
Kuwait Times
4 days ago
- Kuwait Times
Philippines shuts schools, scraps flights as Typhoon Co-May nears
MANILA: Residents wade through a flooded street after heavy rains in Dagupan City, Pangasinan province, north of Manila on July 24, 2025. --AFP MANILA: The Philippines shut down schools and cancelled flights Thursday as typhoon-driven rains pounded the northern island of Luzon, a situation President Ferdinand Marcos called 'the new normal'. Typhoon Co-May, upgraded from a tropical storm overnight, follows days of monsoon rains that have killed at least 19 people and left another 11 missing across the archipelago since July 18, according to the national disaster agency. With maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometers (75 miles) per hour, the typhoon was expected to make landfall on the west coast in either La Union or Ilocos Sur province by Friday morning, the country's weather service said. Marcos said on Thursday that climate change meant Filipinos needed to be thinking about how to adapt to a 'new normal'. 'This is not an extraordinary situation anymore... This will be our lives no matter what we do,' he told a televised cabinet briefing, adding the country should plan for the long-term in addressing natural disasters. 'This is the way it's going to be as far as we know for... many decades to come, so let's just prepare,' he said. 'We have to understand that the climate has changed, the rain patterns have changed,' he added, pointing to recent devastating flooding in the US state of Texas. Around 70 domestic and international flights in the Philippines were cancelled Thursday due to the storms, the civil aviation authority said. The government later announced that classes across Luzon would remain suspended through Friday. Tens of thousands were evacuated across Manila earlier this week by floodwaters that swamped some neighborhoods in waist-deep water and left residents of nearby provinces stranded and in need of rescue by boat. As of Thursday, at least several thousand people in Manila remained unable to return to their homes. 'We cannot send them home yet because it is still raining and some typhoons are still expected to affect the country,' Ria Mei Pangilinan, a rescue coordinator in the capital, told AFP. 'There might be more (evacuees) if the rain does not stop.'—AFP
