Early planning for super typhoon pays off for Hong Kong

Authorities and residents better prepared, having learnt lesson from 2018, 2023 storms

- Magdalene Fung Hong Kong Correspondent

Hong Kongers' preparedness paid off in the face of one of the most powerful typhoons in the city's history.

Bringing torrents of pelting rain, roaring wind and crashing waves, Super Typhoon Ragasa came and went leaving considerably less damage in its trail than a similarly severe storm in 2018.

That year, Super Typhoon Mangkhut left 458 people injured, one of the city's worst casualty counts since records began in 1960.

For Ragasa, hospitals had treated 101 injured people as at 8pm on Sept 24.

Ragasa reached wind speeds of 195kmh when it was at its closest to Hong Kong, higher than Mangkhut's 175kmh.

Observers credited the limited damage in the aftermath of the latest typhoon to the authorities' better preparation this time around, coordinated measures taken earlier by institutions and businesses, as well as residents' cooperation with the warnings issued.

"Ragasa's intensity was about the same as that of Mangkhut, but the difference is that people were much more prepared for the typhoon this time," Professor Johnny Chan of the Asia-Pacific Typhoon Collaborative Research Centre told The Straits Times. "This time, the government did a really good job, warning people very early on so that they could plan ahead. The people have also learnt from their lesson in 2018."

Warnings for people to prepare for Ragasa were issued by the Hong Kong Observatory as early as a week ago and were taken seriously.

Mangkhut shattered glass windows in hundreds of homes and shops, damaged some 700 vehicles, roads and buildings, cut the power supply for over 40,000 households, and felled a record 60,000 trees.

For Ragasa, the authorities said they had received about 1,200 reports of fallen trees, four of landslides and 22 of flooding as at 8pm on Sept 24. A No. 3 typhoon warning remains in place for Hong Kong until at least 7am on Sept 25.