Cathay Pacific, the airline based here, has said that it expected to cancel more than 500 flights as Super Typhoon Ragasa was forecast to hit the Chinese financial hub.
“Starting at 6pm tomorrow (today), Cathay Pacific’s passenger flights arriving at and departing from Hong Kong International Airport will cease operations until daytime hours on Thursday,” a spokeswoman for the airline said at a press conference yesterday.
“More than 500 flights are currently expected to be cancelled.”
Ragasa is crossing the Luzon Strait between southern Taiwan and northern Philippines, and is expected to hit Hong Kong and southern China today.
As of 11am yesterday, maximum sustained winds of 215kph were reported at the storm’s centre, with gusts reaching up to 265kph as it moved westward towards the Babuyans, the Philippines’ national weather service said.
The Hong Kong Observatory has forecast that the city will see “gale to storm force winds” tomorrow.
“The weather will be adverse with frequent heavy squally showers and significant storm surge,” the weather bureau added.
Officials said they planned to stack sandbags and install flood barriers for some coastal villages in the city.
The Education Bureau announced yesterday that all schools will be suspended today and tomorrow.
The city’s hospital authority said public hospitals have implemented special measures to ensure emergency services are not affected during the storm. — AFP
