By Stephanie Tong and Michelle Yun - Sep 29, 2011 2:02 PM GMT+0700
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Victoria Harbour is seen during a Typhoon 8 Signal Warning as Typhoon Nesat passes close to Hong Kong. Photographer: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Central Hong Kong's streets were emptied as Typhoon Nesat swept gale-force winds and rain into the city. Banks including HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered Plc closed branches, and Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. canceled equities and futures trading for the day. The storm felled trees and ripped bamboo scaffolding from buildings, while bus, tram and ferry services were suspended and at least 38 flights were delayed at the airport. (Source: Bloomberg)
Hong Kong shut financial markets, schools, courts and government offices after raising its highest storm signal in two years as Typhoon Nesat swept gale-force winds and rain into the city.
The typhoon, which killed at least 35 people in the Philippines, was centered about 390 kilometers (242 miles) southwest of Hong Kong, and heading toward China’s Hainan Island, the city’s observatory said. The No. 8 storm warning will probably be downgraded in the next couple of hours, it said at 1:45 p.m.
Gusting winds and rain emptied the streets in the city’s financial district as HSBC Holdings Plc, Coach Inc., and Folli Follie closed branches and shops, and Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. canceled equities and futures trading for the day. The storm felled trees and ripped bamboo scaffolding from buildings, while bus, tram and ferry services were suspended and at least 182 flights were delayed, canceled or diverted.
“You would see lots of bags in my hands right now if shops were open,” said Letty Li, a 30-year-old fashion designer from Shanghai who is here on a four-day trip with friends. “I’m very disappointed since we had planned to do lots of shopping.”
Hong Kong, teetering on the edge of recession after the economy suffered its first quarterly contraction since 2009, is relying on tourist spending to bolster growth. Retail sales exceeded 20 percent for a fifth straight month in July.
Few Customers
“We’ve only got 5 percent of the customers that we used to have,” said Stephen Chui, a manager at the Chuen Cheung Kui restaurant at Causeway Bay on Hong Kong Island. Even should customers return, it “it won’t be enough to make up for the losses in the morning session.”
About 30 tropical cyclones will develop over the western North Pacific and the South China Sea yearly, according to the Hong Kong Observatory. Still, only seven tropical storms swept Hong Kong this year, compared with 11 for the previous year, and 28 in 2009.
The typhoon may reach the coast between China’s Guangdong province and Hainan Island later today, bringing in as much as 400 millimeters of rain, the nation’s National Meteorological Center said. More than 4,800 ferries in Hainan have returned to port, and all flights and rail services in Sanya city on the island were canceled, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Typhoon Roke this month crossed Japan, causing widespread flooding and power cuts. Typhoon Muifa, the strongest storm to hit China this year, caused almost 3 billion yuan ($469 million) of direct economic losses in August.
‘Deadly Quiet’
“It’s deadly quiet outside, like a dark, wet, ghost town,” said Gavin Parry, managing director of brokerage Parry International Trading Ltd., who walked to work today. “There are few mini buses, no public buses and taxis are trawling for passengers to pay an extra HK$100 fare, given the typhoon.”
HSBC closed at least 100 branches, Laine Santana, a Kong- based spokeswoman for the bank, said. Standard Chartered Plc shuttered at least 75 branches, said spokeswoman Gabriel Kwan.
“There were a lot fewer customers today,” said Cora Rasco, the Citibank Plaza shop manager at Pacific Coffee Co. “I think only 5 percent of them came to work.” The office complex also houses Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch unit and fund manager Invesco Hong Kong Ltd.
Asian Stocks
Not everybody was off work, as Asian stocks pared losses on speculation German lawmakers will approve a measure to expand a bailout fund for Europe’s debt-stricken nations and as orders for U.S. capital goods unexpectedly climbed. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was 0.3 percent lower as of 2:27 p.m. in Tokyo, trimming losses of as much as 1.3 percent.
“I got in by a cab today, and it took me about 10 minutes to get one,” Frank Huang, head of trading for fixed income at Sinopac Securities Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong, said by phone. “Traffic was smooth as there aren’t many cars on the roads. I have to come back to work as trading is still going on in other markets.”
Winds with an average speed of 63 kilometers an hour were blowing from the southeast direction, and the typhoon is moving away from Hong Kong, the city’s observatory said.
The government received six reports of fallen scaffolding and concrete. A taxi was damaged, the driver hurt and a male passenger sent to hospital after scaffolding fell on to the vehicle, according to the government. There were 31 reports of trees collapsing, the fire services department said.
Police Evacuation
The police evacuated 57 people when the anchor chain of a vessel floating at Sinopec Hong Kong oil terminal on the eastern part of Hong Kong island came loose and struck the facility. No oil leakage was reported, it said.
A total of 169 flights were delayed, with 10 canceled, a spokesman for the Hong Kong Airport Authority said, declining to be identified. Three Hong Kong-bound flights were diverted to Guangzhou and Xiamen in southern China.
The government’s marine department said the Hong Kong-Macau ferry terminal in Sheung Wan was closed.
Law student Justin Heifetz, from the U.S., woke up to find the electricity cut off in his apartment on Caine Road.
“I feel isolated,” said Heifetz. “I’m really glad we live in an age of smart phones, otherwise I wouldn’t even have known that school was canceled.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Stephanie Tong in Hong Kong at stong17@bloomberg.net; Michelle Yun in Hong Kong at myun11@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Hwee Ann Tan at hatan@bloomberg.net
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