Typhoon Nida batters China, Hong Kong

Typhoon Nida, the strongest to have hit the Chinese coast in 33 years, on Tuesday made a landfall in south China, packing winds of up to 151.2 kmph and causing major traffic disruptions and flight cancellations that left hundreds of people stranded.

The typhoon made landfall at 3.35 am at Dapeng Peninsula in the city of Shenzhen in south China’s Guangdong as the provincial capital ordered suspension of work, production, and school classes and directed emergency and rescue personnel to be on alert.

The typhoon, which hit a number areas in China’s Pearl River Delta, is moving northwest at 25 km per hour and expected to sweep across the cities of Shenzhen, Dongguan, Guangzhou, Foshan and Zhaoqing to neighbouring Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted local officials as saying.

Nida has brought strong winds and rain to the eastern part of Guangdong Province and the Pearl River Delta region on Tuesday, the provincial meteorological station said. This is the strongest typhoon to directly hit the Pearl River Delta since 1983, He Guoqing, deputy director of the office of Guangdong provincial flood control headquarters said. China on Monday issued the a red alert, the most severe level in China’s weather warming system, for ocean waves and storm tides as Typhoon Nida approaches the mainland.

Companies and organisations that do not provide critical services or urban operations were encouraged to close for the day. All ships scheduled to end their fishing ban on Monday were asked to delay their departure and remain at port. Nearly 200 trains were suspended on Tuesday, including 180 bullet train. Trains from Guangzhou to Nanning, capital of Guangxi, and Guiyang, capital of southwest China’s Guizhou province, were among those suspended. Till the afternoon, as Nida weakened, flights at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport started to resume.

Meanwhile, hordes of angry passengers stranded after Typhoon Nida pummelled Hong Kong crowded the airport on Tuesday, desperately seeking flights as the city emerges from lockdown. Hundreds of flights were cancelled, schools and shops shut and the stock market closed for the day as the storm brought violent winds and torrential showers. Gusts of 151 kilometres (93 miles) per hour whipped the city and rain lashed down during the night, leaving three people injured and a trail of fallen trees and torn-down scaffolding. The storm triggered a Typhoon 8 signal — the third-strongest category — which was taken down a notch around midday Tuesday as winds eased and the typhoon passed onto mainland China. But as the city’s deserted streets began to come to life as buses and train services resumed, Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok airport was inundated with stranded passengers. An airport authority spokesman told AFP only 500 flights would run between 6.00 am and midnight local time on Tuesday (2200 GMT on Monday to 1600 GMT).

On a normal day, the airport would handle 1,100 flights. More than 150 flights were cancelled on Monday as Nida approached, leaving stranded passengers to sleep on the floor in the departure hall. Hong Kong’s flagship carrier Cathay Pacific and its subsidiary Dragonair cancelled all of their flights in and out of Hong Kong for 16 hours, from 10:00 pm Monday until 2:00 pm Tuesday. Security guards prevented passengers without flights from reaching check-in desks Tuesday, redirecting them to another part of the airport to seek help from staff.