http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2013/09/20/super-typhoon-usagi/2842095/
U.S. Navy's warning center predicted that Usagi poses a "severe threat" to Hong Kong.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The most powerful typhoon of the year swept through the Luzon Strait separating the Philippines and Taiwan on Saturday, battering island communities and dumping rain as it eyes landfall in Hong Kong.
Super Typhoon Usagi had maximum sustained winds of 139 mph and gusts exceeding 163 mph Saturday morning, and was 550 kilometers south of Taipei, Taiwan's capital, according to the U.S. Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center. A storm achieves super typhoon status when winds reach 150 mph.
Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau said later Saturday that Usagi was veering west, likely sparing southern Taiwan from the most destructive winds near its eye.
But gusts exceeding 144 mph were recorded on the Taiwan island of Lanyu, and the bureau warned that dangerous winds were buffeting the holiday resort of Kending on the Hengchun peninsula as the storm makes its closest approach to the area.
In the Philippines, Usagi triggered landslides and power outages in parts of the north of the country, including the Batanes island group where it made landfall early Saturday. No casualties have been reported.
The government's weather bureau warned that storm surges and heavy waves could cause damage in the Batanes and other islands in the Luzon Strait before Usagi blows past the Philippines on Saturday night.
China's National Meteorological Center announced a red alert, its highest level, as the storm maintained its track toward Hong Kong and the manufacturing heartland of the Pearl River Delta. The observatory warned Usagi will impact coastal areas of Guangdong, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces.
The U.S. Navy's warning center predicted that Usagi will approach Hong Kong with weaker but dangerous sustained winds of 110 mph early Monday morning, while the Hong Kong Observatory hoisted the No. 1 Standby Signal and warned the storm poses a "severe threat" to the city.
In Taiwan, nearly 2,500 people were evacuated from flood-prone areas and remote mountainous regions as the government deployed military personnel into potential disaster zones. The storm system has dumped more than 8 inches along the eastern and southern coasts in a 13-hour period, with officials warning that a total rainfall of 39 inches could drop before the storm leaves Sunday.
Local officials closed mountain highways blocked by landslides and suspended train services connecting the east and west coasts as power outages affected thousands of homes.
Usagi retains a massive diameter of 680 miles, with its outer rain bands extending across the main northern Philippine island of Luzon and all of Taiwan across to the Chinese coast. Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau warned winds of 63 mph could hit Taipei.
The Office of Civil Defense in Manila said landslides damaged houses and roads, and pockets of power outages were reported in at least five northern provinces, where several roads and bridges were impassable.
Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair said flights Saturday were unaffected except for one canceled flight, but both airlines warned of delays and cancelations at Hong Kong International Airport from Sunday evening to Monday morning, and urged passengers to postpone non-essential travel on those two days.
U.S. Navy's warning center predicted that Usagi poses a "severe threat" to Hong Kong.
China issues red alert as super storm nears Hong Kong
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Hong Kong braced for high winds and possible flooding as the biggest typhoon of the year so far raced toward the Asian financial and travel hub, clipping Taiwan and the Philippines as it roared between them early Saturday.
Super Typhoon Usagi has a massive diameter of 680 miles, with maximum sustained winds of 139 mph and gusts exceeding 163 mph -- the equivalent of a Category 4 storm on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale used to measure hurricanes in the Western Hemisphere.
Officials in Hong Kong said Typhoon Usagi poses a “severe threat” to the Chinese city of 7 million people.
“The weather will deteriorate significantly with high winds and rough seas,” Hong Kong’s observatory said, as China’s National Meteorological Center issued a red alert -- its highest-level warning -- and said Usagi would likely affect three coastal provinces.
State media said nearly 23,000 fishing boats have taken shelter in China’s Fujian province, and more than 4,000 people have been evacuated from coastal areas.
The U.S. Navy’s warning center predicted that Usagi will make landfall near Hong Kong early Monday morning with slightly reduced but still dangerous sustained winds of 113 mph.
Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways said Saturday that flights had so far been unaffected, but the airline warned of possibly delays and cancellations from Sunday night to Monday morning, and urged passengers to postpone nonessential travel on those two days.
In Taiwan, the English-language China Post newspaper reported that offices and schools were closed in 12 cities and counties across the island’s south and east, and that local governments had advised residents to stay home.
The Office of Civil Defense in Manila said some families had been evacuated from their homes in mountainous Benguet province after several landslides damaged houses and roads in the area, and power outages were reported in at least five northern provinces, where some roads and bridges were impassable.
Tropical storms pound eastern Asia each year. Typhoon Bopha caused floods and landslides that left 1,800 people dead or missing -- and displace nearly a million people -- in the southern Philippines last year. In 2009 Typhoon Morakot killed about 600 people in Taiwan, most of them buried in huge landslides, in one of the island’s worst disasters in recent years. Typhoons are frequent but rarely deadly in Hong Kong, where the storms occasionally disrupt travel and business in the crucial regional hub. In 1971 Typhoon Rose killed 110 people in the city, which was a British colony until it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
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