A “stronger tropical cyclone” could hit Hong Kong early next week, the Observatory on Tuesday warned after Typhoon Talim triggered the No 8 alert and brought the city to a standstill.
The forecaster said while the weather would improve over the next few days as Talim – the city’s first typhoon this year – moved inland, another low-pressure system was already building in the western North Pacific.
“The area of low pressure now over the seas east of the Philippines is expected to develop into a tropical cyclone,” said David Lam Hok-yin, Observatory acting senior scientific officer. “The potential tropical cyclone may be a strong one, reaching typhoon strength or above.”
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Lam added that while it was still too early to make out the storm’s exact track, it was expected to enter the northern part of the South China Sea “early next week,” bringing with it heavy winds and squally showers across the region.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Observatory lifted all alerts related to Typhoon Talim.
Talim, which means “sharp” in Tagalog, brought most of Hong Kong to a standstill on Monday, as strong winds and heavy rains led to cancelled classes, disrupted flights, and forced many workers to stay home.
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The storm prompted the stock market to halt trading for the day and after hours, according to the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing.
The No 8 signal, issued at 12.40am on Monday, remained in force for nearly 16 hours. It was lowered to No 3 at 4.20pm on the same day, and then to No 1 at 2.40am on Tuesday.
All warnings were lifted by 8.40am.
Authorities said nine people, six men and three women, were injured and sent to hospital for treatment, while 55 reports of fallen trees were received. Two cases of flooding were also confirmed.
The Home Affairs Department said up to 112 residents sought refuge at its 29 temporary shelters.
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Cloudy weather with occasional squally showers and thunderstorms are expected for Tuesday and Wednesday, a result of the rain bands from Talim. Temperatures are expected to remain stable, ranging between 27 and 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit).
Sunny weather should return to the city over the weekend ahead of next week’s storm, the Observatory said.
A No 8 storm signal is issued when a gale reaches a speed of between 63km/h and 87km/h (54mph) with gusts exceeding 180km/h.
China’s Central Meteorological Observatory on Tuesday said two typhoons were expected to develop in the western Pacific over the next 10 days and predicted one of them would affect the South China Sea and southern China early next week.
The United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also detected an area of low pressure east of the Philippines that has a high probability of developing into a tropical cyclone over the next 48 hours.
