Hong Kong shut down for business and battened down the hatches as a tropical storm packing winds of 75kph slammed into the territory on Friday.
At least two people were injured and 10 flights in and out of the city were cancelled before Tropical Storm Kompasu made landfall in the rural north-eastern Sai Kung district shortly after 3pm.
Banks and businesses earlier shut down and workers hurried home after a high storm alert was issued by the Hong Kong Observatory at 11.45am.
Two women were treated in hospital after objects falling from high-rise buildings struck them as strong gusts lashed the city of 6,8-million.
It is the first time this year that Hong Kong has issued this type of high storm alert, also known as a storm signal eight.
Businesses are advised to send non-essential staff home when the number-eight signal is hoisted.
The storm had been expected to skirt Hong Kong and make landfall in southern China, along the Pearl River estuary, but instead hit Hong Kong’s New Territories.
Commuters from outlying islands rushed to catch the last ferries home as ferry operators announced they were suspending services from about 1pm onwards as fierce winds whipped up the seas.
Roads in and out of the centre were choked with traffic as rush hour came five hours early and extra trains were added to the city’s underground network to cope with demand.
Flights in and out of Chek Lap Kok International airport were continuing largely as usual despite the storm, although one Beijing-bound Dragonair flight and nine incoming flights were cancelled.
Weathermen said gale-force winds and squally showers would continue as the storm worked its way across Hong Kong towards southern China.
Hong Kong’s typhoon season normally runs from June to September, but the territory has not had a direct hit by a typhoon or cyclone for several years.
Tropical Storm Kompasu, named after the Japanese word for compass, dumped heavy rain on southern Taiwan before changing direction and edging towards Hong Kong at 20kph on Thursday. — Sapa-DPA