Hong Kong begins recovery after Typhoon Ragasa
Hong Kong is starting to recover as schools reopen, businesses evaluate damages, and workers address widespread destruction caused by powerful Typhoon Ragasa, which brought the city to a near standstill for almost two days.
The Hong Kong Observatory lifted all typhoon warning signals at 11:20 a.m. on Thursday, News.Az reports, citing Chinese media.
It noted that the threat posed to the city by Ragasa, which triggered the highest-level No 10 hurricane warning for nearly 11 hours the previous day, had diminished significantly.
Education authorities also announced that afternoon kindergarten classes would resume, while lessons in the morning remained suspended.
Ragasa edged as close as about 100km (62 miles) to the south of Hong Kong on Wednesday morning, disrupting work and transport services and forcing the suspension of school classes for nearly three days.
In Heng Fa Chuen, a flood-prone coastal residential complex on the eastern side of Hong Kong Island, many cleaners and workers were seen clearing debris earlier in the day.
They shovelled mud and grass washed in by seawater and set up bright orange cones to warn people to stay away from fallen trees.
A children’s playground was closed due to the significant cleaning required. Trash, including a kayak, had been removed from the area, which lies lower than the surrounding landscape.
But some residents and workers said the damage this time was minimal compared with the devastation caused by Super Typhoon Mangkhut, which also triggered the No 10 signal in 2018.
“The damage looked much smaller this time than during Mangkhut,” said Pierre Choi, a 62-year-old retiree who has lived in Heng Fa Chuen for about a decade.
He recalled that the winds reminded him of those during Mangkhut, which prompted him to stay indoors all day.
When he finally headed out on Thursday morning, he felt the impact was less severe than in 2018.
“Last time, we could barely walk outside the next morning because the pavement bricks near the water were lifted and broken. Many lifts did not work due to flooding,” Choi said, crediting the improved outcome this time to the housing management team’s early warnings and better preparations, including timely floodgate installations.
In Tseung Kwan O, one of the hardest-hit areas in the city, flood barriers in front of three restaurants at Monterey Place shopping centre were largely blown off into a mountain of debris, with plates, glasses, chairs, tables and cushions washed out from the eateries.
In the nearby promenade, sections of metal railings welded into the ground were blown off and twisted, blocking pavements and biking routes, with slabs of stone peeled off from concrete walls and bricks, as well as tiles on the ground lifted in large chunks.
An underpass for a biking route is flooded, metal road signs are entirely bent, trees are snapped, lamp fixtures have fallen and three cast-iron public benches are believed to have been blown away entirely, leaving only remnants of their legs.
Staff at Monterey Place were seen inspecting damages, making notes of cracked walls and cordoning off different areas. Flood barriers were being collected amid a mountain of debris.
Neighbourhood resident Ashitha Hegde said the extent of the storm was beyond her expectations, adding that she had dined at the affected establishments before.
She said more could be done to prevent similar situations from happening again, but it could be hard to “escape nature’s fury”.
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