Citizens in Hong Kong were huddled indoors on Sunday, September 16 as typhoon Mangkhut send debris flying, sending skyscrapers swaying and injuring many after lashing through and killing more than 30 people in Philippines.
The world's biggest storm this year left large expanses in the north of the main Philippines' main island of Luzon underwater as fierce winds tore trees from the ground. The town of Luzon, that produces much of the nations rice and corn are sitting under muddy water, with crops ruined just a month before harvest.
The rains caused 51 landslides in the area. Search crews are looking for people reported missing in the mountainous Cordillera region. . Nearly five million people, almost a quarter of whom survive on just a few dollars per day, live in the storm's path.
In Hong Kong, winds have already torn off roofs, smashed windows and downed trees with gusts of more than 230 kilometres per hour and left over 100 injured; some windows in tower blocks were smashed. The government had issued maximum alerts for the storm.
An average of 20 typhoons and storms lash the Philippines each year, killing hundreds of people. More than 550 flights have been canceled at airports in Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, and more than 200 have been delayed. Other cities like Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Macau are on high alert.
Some roads in Hong Kong were waist-deep in water with parts of the city cut off by floods and fallen trees on the afternoon of September 16 as the rains continued. In the fishing village of Tai O, where many residents live in stilt houses built over the sea, some desperately tried to bail out their inundated homes. The government warned people to stay indoors but some ventured out, heading to the coast to take photos.
As the storm moved south past Macau, its streets became submerged under water gushing from the harbour. Rescue workers navigated the roads on jetskis, rescuing residents trapped in their shops.
The government and casinos are taking extra precautions after Macau was battered by Typhoon Hato last year, which left 12 dead.
Preparations were in high gear on China's southern coast, including in Yangjiang, which is not often hit by major typhoons and where the city's 2.4 million people were bracing for a direct hit.
Further down the coast preparations were also underway in Zhanjiang, where some villagers feared for the worst.
