No 8 Signal Issued As Nangka Brushes Past Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Observatory on Tuesday morning issued the typhoon No 8 signal at 5:40 am, as Tropical Storm Nangka brushes past the SAR.

The Education Bureau announced that classes of all day schools are suspended because of the storm.

The Kowloon Motor Bus, CityBus and New World First Bus companies also announced that most of their day time bus services will be suspended until further notice.

The MTR Corporation, meanwhile, said it will maintain a reduced service with trains running at around 10 minute intervals on most of its lines.

The First Ferry company said it will suspend all outlying island ferry services after 6:30 am.

The observatory on Monday had issued the Strong Wind Signal Number 3 at 5:10 pm, with a warning that it may consider raising the No 8 signal in the early hours of Tuesday.

Nangka is bringing squally showers to the south China coast. Winds are generally strong over offshore waters and on high ground in the territory, occasionally reaching gale force.

The storm is gradually moving away from Hong Kong. However, under its combined effect with the northeast monsoon, local winds are still expected to strengthen further. In particular, the southern part of Hong Kong will experience stronger winds.

At 5 am, Nangka was estimated to be about 450 kilometres south of Hong Kong (near 18.3 degrees north 113.5 degrees east) and forecast to move west or west-northwest at about 22 kilometres per hour in the general direction of the vicinity of Hainan Island and intensify gradually.

There will be swells and very rough seas. Members of the public are advised to stay away from the shoreline and not to engage in water sports.

In the past few hours, the maximum sustained winds recorded at Waglan Island, Cheung Chau Beach and Tate's Cairn were 75, 59 and 55 kilometres per hour with maximum gusts exceeding 85, 72 and 71 kilometres per hour respectively.