A Can of Whoop-Ass
A Can of Whoop-Ass
Typhoon York sneaked up on Hong Kong during the night, and in the morning opened a can of whoop-ass on the territory with a fury not seen in 16 years.
There's a lot to tell.
While people in North America went into conniptions about Hurricane Floyd, we were slammed
by a typhoon as powerful as Floyd when it made landfall in the United States. York wasn't as large in breadth as Floyd, but it packed the same punch and made a direct hit.
Let's get York's statistics out of the way:
• It had maximum winds speeds of 234 kph (142 mph) at the eye, with outer winds peaking
at 140 kph (85 mph).
• Three are dead; one is missing and presumed dead after disappearing under a huge wave (while windsurfing, if you can believe it). Seas were enormous. Helicopter crews battled hurricane winds to find him, and rescue his would-be rescuers, who themselves became imperiled by treacherous ocean waves.
• Over 500 people were injured, mostly by flying debris.
• Hurricane signal no.10 was raised at 6.45am and stayed up for eleven hours, a record held since 1960, and only the 12th time it has been raised since 1945 (one out of every 55 typhoons).
• 4,300 trees were uprooted, or snapped in half and scattered over the roadways. Sections
of 86 roads were closed by trees or debris.
• Signs on buildings were ripped from their mountings and dashed onto the sidewalks.
• Landslides and flooding plagued the New Territories; more than 300 people had to
evacuated.
• Most transport systems, including buses, ferries, and trains were halted. The MTR ran most lines, except those above ground.
• 
The airport was at a standstill, with 465 flights affected. 97 incoming and 80 outgoing flights were
cancelled, 134 incoming and 151 outgoing flights delayed, and six incoming flights diverted.
• The Lantau Link, including the Tsing Ma Bridge, was closed for two hours in the afternoon.
• Numerous power failures left people stuck in lifts.
• Five crew were rescued from a mainland river freighter, Tsang Hon 9038, which sank west
of Lantau Island.
• Three other vessels ran aground, while many others were damaged or destroyed.
• Yachts were blown ashore in Sai Kung.
• A crane was blown off the roof of a high-rise under construction, falling more than 30 stories. It hit a 10th-floor flat in the block opposite before crashing onto the road.
• A 25-metre-tall industrial chimney collapsed onto a roadway.
• 429 windows at Revenue Tower and Immigration Tower were blown out at about noon. Most were windows from offices nearly 40 stories up. Some of the windows were from district court.
• The insurance bill for all the damage is expected to run into the tens of billions of dollars.
York was erratic and difficult to predict:
• Monday, 10.45am: Standby signal no.1 was hoisted.
• Wednesday, 10.15am: Strong wind signal no.3 was hoisted.
• 2.03pm: Moved closer to the coast of Guangdong.
• 4.14pm: Shifted to a more westerly track, and was expected to pass within 100 kilometres on Thursday.
• 10.53pm: York became nearly stationary, then rapidly strengthened.
• Thursday, 1.28am: York was now a Severe Tropical Storm.
• 3.15am: No.8 NorthWest storm signal was hoisted.
• 3.35am: The public was advised to return home at once.
• 4.40am: Amber rainstorm warning was issued.
• 5.13am: Gale to storm-force northwesterly winds.
• 5.25am: Storm signal no.9 was hoisted.
• 5.27am: Red rainstorm warning was issued.
• 5.45am: York intensified into a typhoon and accelerated.
• 6.10am: Landslip warning was issued.
• 6.45am: Hurricane signal no.10 was hoisted.
• 8.05am: York hit Hong Kong dead on.
• 5.45pm: No.10 signal was replaced with no.8.
• 10.10pm: No.8 signal was replaced with no.3.
• Friday, 12.45am: All signals were lowered.
Previous no.10 typhoons to hit Hong Kong:
• 09.09.83: Ellen 238 kph, 10 dead, 12 missing, 333 injured.
• 08.08.79: Hope 229 kph, 12 dead, 260 injured.
• 10.14.75: Elsie 180 kph, 46 injured.
• 08.17.71: Rose 224 kph, 110 dead, 5 missing, 286 injured.
• 08.21.68: Shirley 209 kph, 4 injured.
• 10.13.64: Dot 220 kph, 26 dead, 10 missing, 85 injured.
• 09.05.64: Ruby 268 kph, 38 dead, 6 missing, 300 injured.
• 09.01.62: Wanda 284 kph, 130 dead, 53 missing.
• 05.19.61: Alice 166 kph, 4 dead, 20 injured.
• 06.09.60: Mary 194 kph, 45 dead, 11 missing, 127 injured.
• 09.22.57: Gloria 187 kph, no records available.
Several devastating typhoons hit in the early 1960s, the worst being Typhoon Wanda in 1962, with peak gusts of 259 kph inside Victoria Harbour. A three-metre tidal wave from Tolo Harbour flooded Sha Tin and Tai Po. Throughout Hong Kong 20,000 people were left homeless. Almost 1,300 vessels were overturned or sank.
In 1964, Typhoon Ruby sunk a Panamanian freighter, and in 1971, Typhoon Rose sunk 28 ocean-going vessels and hundreds of smaller ships. One of the most serious typhoons hit in 1937, killing 11,000 people. A tidal wave washed away part of Sha Tin.
These days, people are much safer if they stay indoors. Those who don't resort to using taxis to get around. And what would the last great bastion of capitalism be without someone finding a way to make money in this situation. You guessed it, it's taxi drivers.
When public transportation is shut down, taxi and minibus drivers reap the profits. Some charged up to three times the normal fares, saying they were risking their lives by going to work. Most drivers charged between $30 to $50 extra above the regular fare. They feel justified as they're working at a risk and without any insurance coverage.
Overcharging is illegal, but passengers are considerate, given the circumstances. If not, they walk, and walking outside during a typhoon isn't smart.
We were high but not dry during this little episode. Living on the 30th floor has its advantages, but not when signal no.10 is hoisted.
I crashed at 3.30am, knowing the storm was coming. I thought it wouldn't get here until 12 hours later, as it was 130 km out to sea and moving at 10 kph. At 7.00am I awoke to the not-so-gentle sway of the building. It felt like being on the deck of a boat in rough seas. This is a bizarre sensation; rather disconcerting at 300 feet off the deck. My wife felt a touch nauseated by the motion, like being seasick. But one look at the highrises across the street was enough to convince us the building was not about to snap in half and send us plummeting to the ground.
Added to that load of fun was rainwater leaking through every window and air conditioner in the flat. When driven by hurricane-force winds, water will be forced through any available gap, especially when it's coming in sideways. I spent most of the day running back and forth with 20 towels to soak up the water before it flooded us out.
Looking out the window, I saw white, fluffy things blowing by. I couldn't tell what they were, but they looked like flower petals. I realised they were large drops of water being forced upwards by vertical wind shear, which caused the droplets to fragment into petal shapes. I found that neat.
All day long, until the early evening, we were forced to stay indoors and listen to the ungodly howl outside the windows. At times it would cycle down low and then come back with fury, and that was freaky. I kept waiting for the windows to explode.
After being cooped up all day, we were becoming a little stir-crazy, so we decided to go out at 8.30pm. By then the warning signal had been lowered to no.8, which was tolerable. We hoped to stretch our legs a bit and find something to eat, if any restaurants were open. Two of the three lifts in the building were knocked out of service;we had to walk down one flight to use the odd-floor elevator.
Once outside, we surveyed carnage wrought by York. Trees were either uprooted or snapped. Rubbish and other detritus was blown about everywhere. Garbage bins and signs were overturned. A few local businesses had their frontage signs torn off and destroyed. Dead umbrellas lay about and it still rained.
We ran into some friends and found an open restaurant. We ate, drank beer and had a great time: a nice end to a trying day. At 12.45am Friday, all warning signals were lowered and York was a memory.
Storm season is far from over. It goes to the end of October. We may see another one like this, but I would just as soon not. You don't have to go out into the storm to get tired out by it.
I feel as though York did open a can of whoop on my ass.
September 17, 1999
Next Tale - I'm Surrounded by Idiots