The deadly super typhoon, which triggered the highest-level No 10 hurricane warning for nearly 11 hours, edged as close as 100km (62 miles) to the south of Hong Kong on Wednesday morning, disrupting work and transport services and forcing the suspension of school classes.
It knocked over trees across the city and caused widespread floods, with powerful waves crashing into a luxury hotel, shattering windows and glass doors.
The world’s most powerful cyclone this year claimed at least 17 lives in Taiwan and caused more than 100 injuries in Hong Kong. However, no casualties were reported in neighbouring Guangdong province, where the storm made landfall.
Ragasa, dubbed the “king of storms” by mainland Chinese authorities, sustained a maximum wind speed at its centre at 195km/h at its closest to Hong Kong, the same as Super Typhoon Saola in 2023. The figure was higher than the 185 km/h recorded for Super Typhoon Hato in 2017 and the 175 km/h for Mangkhut in 2018.
Ragasa had weakened to a severe typhoon by the time it made landfall over Yangjiang in Guangdong on Wednesday afternoon. The Hong Kong Observatory downgraded the No 10 signal raised at 2.40am on Wednesday to No 8 at 1.20pm and to No 3 at 8.20pm.
