Typhoon Noul: 350 flights cancelled as Hong Kong lowers T3 signal to T1

Over 190 high-speed rail services also disrupted on Sunday, while Airport Authority says most flights to resume in the afternoon Waves crash onto the Kennedy Town promenade on Sunday morning. Photo: Karma Lo About 350 flights were cancelled in Hong Kong on Sunday but most were expected to resume in the afternoon, according to the Airport Authority, while the Observatory said the No 3 storm signal was lowered to No 1 at 3.20pm as Typhoon Noul moved further away from the city. Apart from flight disruptions, more than 190 cross-border high-speed rail services were also cancelled on Sunday. “When Noul no longer poses a threat to Hong Kong, the Observatory will cancel all Tropical Cyclone Warning Signals, or replace the Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal by the Strong Monsoon Signal,” the Observatory said. Under the influence of Noul, local winds will still be occasionally strong offshore on Sunday, reaching gale force on high ground at first, according to the forecaster. It added that squally showers and thunderstorms were expected to persist over Hong Kong for the rest of Sunday and tomorrow. Yeung Tat-wing, director of service delivery at Hong Kong’s Airport Authority, said that the airport was expecting to handle a total of 675 flights on Sunday, with 350 flights cancelled. “Most flights will resume in the afternoon,” he said. He added that the airport would be busy, especially in the evening, with all three runways operating overnight if necessary. Yeung said he hoped operations would return to normal by Monday morning. More than 40mm (1.6 inches) of rainfall was recorded over the eastern part of the New Territories in the early hours of Sunday, the forecaster said. The Observatory issued the amber rainstorm warning – the lowest level in a three-tier system – at 5am, with about 30mm of rainfall recorded in eastern parts of the New Territories in an hour. The signal was cancelled at 10.05am, but reissued again at 3.45pm. The Hospital Authority said that, as of 12pm, 21 people had been injured during the typhoon period. They received medical treatment at public hospital accident and emergency departments. Unhandled type: inline-plus-widget {"type":"inline-plus-widget"} As at 1pm on Sunday, the government’s 1823 call centre had received 88 reports of fallen trees while the Fire Services Department received 243 reports. The Drainage Services Department received eight reports of flooding, while 246 people sought shelter at 29 temporary government shelters opened in various districts. Most MTR lines resumed operations at around 1.30pm, although the East Rail line continued to experience longer waiting times, with service between Tai Po Market and Fanling remaining suspended. Citybus stated that most daytime routes resumed service as of 1.15pm. The Marine Department also said at 1.15pm that the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal in Sheung Wan had reopened. Across the city, many residents spent a sleepless night as the typhoon intensified beyond expectations. Violent gusts howled and wailed, rattling windows and slamming buildings, leaving households wide-awake through the early hours. According to the Observatory, Noul intensified into a severe typhoon at 2am on Sunday before weakening back to typhoon strength by 5am and dropping to a severe tropical storm by 11am as it moved inland. The storm made landfall near Huizhou at around 3.50am, with maximum sustained winds near its centre reaching 45 metres per second, making it the first typhoon to hit Guangdong this year. A section of bamboo scaffolding in Sha Tin felt the force of the typhoon. Photo: Sam Tsang The Observatory lowered the typhoon signal to No 8 at 7.10am, six hours after it raised the No 9 warning at 1.10am. The forecaster issued the No 3 typhoon signal at 1.20pm and the No 8 warning – the first this year – at 10.10pm on Saturday. According to the Airport Authority, as of 4.50pm on Saturday, 29 departure and 20 arrival flights had been cancelled. It said it would activate its flight rescheduling control system to facilitate orderly operations once weather permitted. The MTR Corporation said in the early hours of Sunday that open sections of rail and Light Rail services would be suspended starting from the first train to ensure the safety of passengers. It said it would maintain a limited train service in underground sections until further notice. Most of the train services gradually resumed as the typhoon weakened. A tree fell onto a section of the East Rail line. Photo: Handout It also said it had been notified by mainland Chinese railway authorities that all high-speed rail trips between Hong Kong’s West Kowloon station and mainland destinations before 4pm on Sunday would be cancelled. A check on the MTR’s website showed 194 train services had been cancelled on Sunday and six on Monday. The Education Bureau said all classes of all-day schools had been suspended on Sunday. It said in the afternoon that evening school classes would resume at night. The typhoon name Noul, provided by North Korea, means “glowing crimson skies”. Umbrellas are put to the test on the Kennedy Town promenade early on Sunday. Photo: Karma Lo On social media, people described a frightening, sleepless night as the city weathered the storm. “Just as I was about to fall asleep, I heard extremely strong winds, and what I think might have been impact sounds,” one social media user said. “My heart skipped a beat, and I was awake again. It was a constant cycle the whole night.” Others said they had not heard winds roar with such force in years and that they had underestimated Noul’s intensity. “In all my years, I do not think I have ever experienced wind making such loud slapping sounds, whistling like a flute and howling – it was scarier than a movie scene,” another resident wrote. An online video shared by a Yuen Long resident, filmed from their flat window at around 6am, showed trees below swaying violently as the wind howled. The resident described the gusts as “demon winds” with the footage capturing an eerie, high-pitched wailing that rose and fell like a siren. Another video filmed at around 5.40am from outside a flat showed balcony doors rattling violently in the wind, with the resident describing the noise as sounding like debris being swept along the street by the powerful gusts.