Super Typhoon Ragasa: Hong Kong to suspend schools, non-emergency public hospital services on Tues, Wed

Hong Kong will suspend all schools and non-emergency services at public hospitals in the next two days as the city braces for Super Typhoon ...

Hong Kong will suspend all schools and non-emergency services at public hospitals in the next two days as the city braces for Super Typhoon Ragasa.

The Education Bureau announced on Monday that classes in kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, evening schools, and other special schools would be suspended on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Hospital Authority separately said that all non-emergency services at public hospitals would remain open on Tuesday morning but would be halted from the afternoon, after the Hong Kong Observatory issues the T8 warning signal, until Wednesday.

The HKO said that it would consider issuing the T8 warning signal between 1pm and 4pm on Tuesday.

As of 5pm on Monday, Super Typhoon Ragasa was estimated to be about 780 kilometres east to southeast of Hong Kong, moving across the Luzon Strait and entering the northern part of the South China Sea, according to the Observatory.

Maximum sustained winds near its centre have reached 230 kilometres per hour, making it one of the strongest typhoons in the Pacific in recent years.

The Observatory issued the T1 warning signal shortly after noon on Monday and will raise the T3 signal at 9.40pm. Ragasa is projected to be closest to Hong Kong on Wednesday morning, when high winds and flooding are expected.

Shenzhen water discharge

At a press conference on Monday, Director of Drainage Services Mok Wing-cheong said his department had formed another 20 quick response teams to handle flooding, bringing the total of such teams to about 200, in anticipation of Ragasa.

The Drainage Services Department had also deployed drainage machines to areas at high risk of flooding, Mok said, adding that the department had purchased four such devices, which will arrive in Hong Kong as late as Tuesday morning.

Mok also said that authorities in Hong Kong and Shenzhen have been in close contact and that so far the mainland Chinese city has no plans to discharge water from the Shenzhen Reservoir.

Officials in Shenzhen will notify their counterparts in Hong Kong “in advance” in case of a water discharge operation, Mok said.

“We have made a chat group on WeChat, which comprises departmental representatives from Shenzhen and Hong Kong, to share information in advance,” he said in Cantonese.

The Hong Kong government said on Monday that temporary shelters under the District Offices would be opened at 8am on Tuesday for people in need.

It will also consider whether there would be a need to initiate the “government-wide mobilisation mechanism” – a scheme introduced in 2022 that deploys government employees to handle emergency situations – after the typhoon. The 77 government bureaus and departments have been alerted to stand ready, the government said.

Flights at Hong Kong International Airport will be heavily disrupted for 36 hours from Tuesday evening to Thursday morning due to Ragasa, according to the Airport Authority.

Over 500 Cathay Pacific flights are expected to be cancelled, the city’s flag carrier said. HK Express, Cathay’s budget subsidiary, said that four of its flights scheduled for Tuesday would depart earlier and that over 100 flights would be axed between Tuesday and Thursday.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong Airlines said it would axe flights between 6pm on Tuesday and 6am on Thursday. Greater Bay Airlines said its flights scheduled after 6pm on Tuesday and at any time on Wednesday would be “delayed or cancelled.”

Other airlines, including Taiwan’s China Airlines and EVA Air, also announced cancellations of flights in and out of Hong Kong on Tuesday and Wednesday.