Typhoon Koppu marks my first working-day typhoon since I have arrived in Hong Kong three months ago.
While I was recovering from a bout of illness in bed (all those unpacking and dust have done me in) yesterday, the tropical storm was raging all over Hong Kong and southern China, bringing extreme winds and pounding storm surge. The No 8 storm warning signal had been hoisted on Monday evening as Koppu struck – forcing many schools, businesses and shops to close.
Electric skies over Hong Kong as a powerful thunderstorm, embedded in an outer band of tropical storm Koppu, sweeps the area. Over 13,000 lightning strikes were recorded in 2 hours with winds gusting up to 80mph. Because of the typhoon, at least 50 people were injured and 28 admitted to hospital. But most received only minor injuries and were discharged after treatment.
As for me? Well, part of me was glad that I got the morning off (in Hong Kong, you need not report to work if typhoon no. 8 is hoisted) – a first for me since the previous two typhoons struck on weekends. When the signal was lowered to No. 3 at about 10.30 a.m. today, I was told I have two hours to get my ass back to work.
In my excitement of joining the hordes of office workers heading to work, I locked myself out of my home with my keys still on my table – inside the house. It took me another hour to sort that out, and as a result I was late for work.
Ah well. There is always a first time for everything, typhoon-related stupidity included.
If you are new to Hong Kong, like me, here are some very useful typhoon-related links:
1) HK Government Typhoon Warnings
2) Typhoon Hunter on YouTube, famous for chasing typhoons in HK
(Photo Credit: odogfoto)