AINDA O TUFÃO VICENTE

Signal 10

Hurricane force winds. Eye of typhoon may be passing directly over Hong Kong.

HONG KONG—Business in Hong Kong were ground to a halt on Tuesday morning, as Typhoon Vicente ripped through the city, injuring at least 50 people and delaying the start of stock-market trading.

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ZUMAPRESS.com

People walk against the rainstorm in a street in Wanchai, south China's Hong Kong, on July 23.

Hong Kong raised its typhoon warning to Signal 10 overnight, the highest level and the first time it's been used since 1999. By 6 a.m. local time Tuesday, the signal was lowered to the third-highest warning, Signal 8, as winds eased slightly. The city's observatory has said it will consider lowering the current storm warning to a signal 3 around 10 a.m.

At least 50 people sought medical treatment at public hospitals, according to government officials. At the Hong Kong International Airport, 15 flights were cancelled and 212 delayed as of 1:30 a.m. local time. Cathay Pacific announced that with the exception of a handful of flights to locations including London, Singapore and New York, it plans to resume normal operations. The city's development bureau received 215 reports of fallen trees.

The heavy rain and high winds started Monday afternoon, sending millions of workers home early and cramming the streets and subway tunnels with people trying to make sure they wouldn't be stranded overnight.

"The subways were terrible last night—so many people, thousands of them," said Victor Leung, 35, an accountant who was out for a walk Tuesday morning with his dog on a deserted street in the west of Hong Kong island. "My umbrella broke, too, but otherwise [the damage] for me wasn't too bad."

Gesturing along the adjacent stretch of shuttered dried seafood shops, where fish and sea cucumbers are often laid to dry outside in rattan baskets, he said that neighborhood shop owners were well-prepared for the storm. "They closed up shop," he said, smiling. "None of their abalone got wet."

Ferry services were suspended, as were the main overnight cross-harbor bus services. The port was closed, as were all nonessential government departments.

At 10 a.m., Vicente was centered about 230 kilometres west of Hong Kong and is forecast to move west-northwest at about 22 kilometers per hour crossing western Guangdong. Wind speeds are expected to decrease.

Write to Daniel Inman at daniel.inman@wsj.com and Joanne Chiu at joanne.chiu@wsj.com

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O sinal 10 de tempestades tropicais tinha sido içado pela última vez no mês de setembro de 1999, aquando da passagem do tufão York.


Typhoon York (9915)
12 - 17 September 1999

Typhoon Vicente lashes Hong Kong, injuring 118

A severe typhoon lashed Hong Kong on early Tuesday morning, injuring more than 110 people and causing flooding in several parts of the city, local authorities said. It is the worst typhoon to hit the area in more than a decade.

Maximum sustained winds of Typhoon Vicente reached nearly 140 kilometers (87 miles) per hour, the equivalent of a category one hurricane. The Hong Kong Observatory issued a level 10 typhoon warning, the most severe level, at the height of the storm but later downgraded it to level eight as the storm moved away.

At least 118 people, including 53 males and 65 females, had sought treatment at public hospitals as of 6 a.m. local time, according to the Hong Kong Hospital Authority. The youngest victim is 4-years-old while the oldest is 86-years-old, officials said. At least 52 people were admitted to hospitals, although their conditions were not immediately known.

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Em Macau o sinal 9 de tempestades tropicais ainda foi içado, ainda não estão contabilizados os prejuízos. hoje pelas 09, 30 horas o sinal 8 foi substituído pelo sinal 3, mas o tempo em Macau continua péssimo.

Fotos tiradas esta manhã, pelo articulista, de sua varanda