A severe tropical storm lashed Hong Kong and southern China with high winds and heavy rain today after cutting a deadly swathe through the Philippines and Taiwan.
Banks, schools and financial markets were shut in Hong Kong, public transport was limited and most workers stayed home. About 159 people sought refuge at temporary shelters.
Main Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific Airways 0293.HK delayed flights until the afternoon and the stock exchange closed for the day. Airlines had cancelled 13 flights and delayed 28 others in the morning, the Hong Kong International Airport said.
Typhoon Utor ripped through the northern Philippines and Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday, killing at least 55 people, injuring more than 70 and leaving over 30 missing.
It weakened quickly to a tropical storm after making landfall around dawn this morning at the coastal city of Shanwei in China's densely populated Guangdong province, about 120 kilometres northeast of Hong Kong.
Shanwei residents, contacted by telephone, said the city of 2.5 million was being pounded by heavy rain but there were no initial reports of injuries.
The heavy rain was being driven by winds of 108 kilometres per hour, weather and disaster-relief officials said.
"There have been reports of battered coastal dams, seaside villages surrounded by floods and crops swept away. We are still counting the damage but there have been no reports of deaths," an official at the Shanwei's Flood Relief Command said.The storm was heading slowly northwest towards Shenzhen and Guangzhou. Officials said rainfall and winds were less serious than expected.