The Hong Kong Observatory said on Sunday that Super Typhoon Ragasa will intensify further in the next couple of days as it enters the northern part of the South China Sea and moves closer to the coast of Guangdong.
The observatory said in an advisory issued at 11:30 am that, while Hong Kong’s weather was expected to improve briefly and will be very hot on Monday, there will be swells and the city could expect hurricane force winds on Wednesday.
“The weather will deteriorate later on Tuesday. Gale to storm force winds will prevail on Wednesday, and winds may reach hurricane force offshore and on high ground,” the HKO said.
Ragasa’s maximum sustained winds near the center reached 195 kilometers per hour as of 8 am Sunday, according to the observatory.
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This could intensify further to 220 km/h in the next two days before going down to 195 km/h on Wednesday, when the super typhoon is expected to be closest to the city.
The HKO issues the T10 or hurricane force wind typhoon warning signal when winds with sustained speed reaching 118 km/h or above and gusts that may exceed 220 km/h hit the city.
At noon on Sunday, Ragasa was centered about 720 kilometers northeast of Manila and was forecast to move west-northwest at about 18 kilometers per hour towards the vicinity of Luzon Strait.
The HKO reiterated its warning that due to an expected significant storm surge, the sea level in the territory's coastal areas on Wednesday may be similar to that of super typhoons Hato in 2017 and Mangkhut in 2018.
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“There will be heavy squally showers, thunderstorms and significant storm surge on Wednesday. Seas will be very high with swells,” the observatory said.
On Sunday morning, showers associated with the remnants of tropical storm Mitag continued to affect the city, with around 70 millimeters of rainfall recorded over Central and Western District, Lantau Island and the eastern part of the New Territories.
The observatory issued the amber rainstorm warning at 9:10 am, which meant that rainfall exceeding 30 millimeters was expected over the city, while a thunderstorm warning issued at 11:15 pm Saturday was extended until 3 pm Sunday.