Tropical Cyclone Linfa

Today was the first time since moving to HK that I got to leave work early due to stormy weather. Previously, most of storms have hit during the night, so going into work in the mornings was postponed by a few hours. As the Tropical Cyclone Linfa moves across the East China Sea this afternoon, the Hong Kong Observatory raised the No. 8 Storm Signal. They predict the storm to be in full force near midnight and will gradually weaken by tomorrow morning.

I was surprised by the precautionary measures taken by the University for this type of storm compared to black rain storms. For the black rain storms, people are advised to stay indoors during the warning, rather than try to travel home. But for today's storm, an email was sent out informing everyone of the weather conditions and arrangements to close down the university about half an hour before everyone was permitted to leave,. Then 3 rounds of warning announcement and buzzer were aired over our PA system every 10 minutes.

My colleagues told me that such tropical cyclones are treated very seriously historically many more deaths and injuries have resulted, as compared to black rainstorms. We were permitted to leave by 3:45pm and by the time I reached the mall outside of apartment,around 5pm, many shops were also closing their doors. The clothing shops all had their shutters closed, and even late-closing Mannings pharmacy was preparing to close down for the night. The only shops that were left open were food outlets like Cafe de Coral, supermarkets like Park n Shop, and of course convenience stores like 7/11. Actually I don't think 7/11 will close down tonight. They are always opened it seems...

You can see the management has taken some precautionary measures to prevent the trees from flying everywhere in case they break during the storm. But so far, things seem calm here on the Eastern part of HK.

At 5pm-- the calm before the storm (Photo: CathC)