Hong Kong Grounds Flights, Shuts Schools as Super Typhoon Saola Nears

Hong Kong has grounded flights, shut down its stock market and closed schools as super Typhoon Saola barrels towards China’s southern coast.

The finance hub issued a T8 threat warning – the city’s third-highest – at about 2:40 am local time on Friday (18:40 GMT on Thursday).

Saola’s wind speeds topped 205 kilometers per hour as it came within 230km east-southeast of the financial hub at about 8:00 am local time (00:00 GMT), Hong Kong’s observatory said.

The weather would “deteriorate rapidly” throughout the day, the observatory said, warning of the possibility of serious flooding in low-lying coastal areas. Members of the public were also warned to stay away from the shoreline.

On China’s mainland, authorities issued the highest typhoon warning for the storm, which state media said would make landfall “in the coastal areas stretching from Huilai to Hong Kong” on Friday afternoon or evening.