Typhoon Nesat caught Hong Kong off guard and brought the city to a standstill, paralyzing transportation, businesses, schools and financial markets on Thursday.

Although having earlier dismissed the likelihood of the No 8 typhoon warning signal being hoisted, the Hong Kong Observatory raised it at 4:40 am and had it lowered 12 hours later at around 4 pm. The observatory had warned on its website at about 2 am that the No 8 signal would be up within two or three hours because Nesat had taken a slightly northerly course.

But many citizens were caught totally off guard. She Ying-ni, who works in Tsim Sha Tsui, said she had heard nothing about the No 8 warning signal until she found herself locked out at her office at 9 am.

"The observatory had earlier told us there was little chance of No 8 going up," she grumbled.

There were 400 reported cases of falling trees and 55 cases of scaffolding collapsing as a result of the gale-force winds. The Home Affairs Department opened 18 temporary shelters for residents in need.

A 100-square-meter scaffolding came down on Prince Edward Road East in San Po Kong at 12 am, pinning a taxi and injuring two people. It caused a section of the road to be temporarily sealed off until Thursday afternoon.

The storm wreaked havoc at Chek Lap Kok Airport, with 319 flights delayed and 52 flights either canceled or diverted. Cathay Pacific said most of its flights were operating normally.

An MTR train compartment was reported to have been hit by a falling tree near Tai Wo Station in the morning, but no one was reported injured.

stushadow@chinadailyhk.com

China Daily

(HK Edition 09/30/2011 page1)