By Nicoco Chan
ZHUHAI/HONG KONG (Reuters) -Hong Kong and several coastal cities in China’s southern Guangdong province reopened businesses, transportation services and schools on Thursday after the world’s most powerful tropical cyclone this year lashed the region.
Ragasa brought the densely populated city to a standstill from Tuesday afternoon, after sweeping through the northern Philippines and Taiwan where it killed 14, before making landfall on the southern Chinese city of Yangjiang on Wednesday.
More than 100 people were injured in Hong Kong, where authorities imposed the highest typhoon signal 10 for most of Wednesday.
Hong Kong resumed flights out of its international airport on Thursday after a 36-hour suspension.
By Wednesday evening businesses and transport services were reopening in the neighbouring tech hub of Shenzhen, with cleaning teams clearing downed trees and branches from the roads.
Local media reported extensive flooding in multiple districts in the Chinese coastal city of Zhuhai.
Shopkeeper Yang Yanna was picking through soaked packaging for luxury brand alcohol, tea and cigarettes, estimating over 300,000 yuan ($42,100) of damage.
“I’ve been here for over ten years, and (the typhoons) have never been this intense,” Yang said.
“I thought the floodwater would be the height of these chairs, or a bit higher, no problem. But it rose higher than we expected.”
Nearby, a home goods seller named Nie tried to salvage sodden toothpaste boxes.
“Since the pandemic, it’s been extremely difficult to run a business,” Nie said. “Everything we do is at a loss… And now you come in and there’s nothing.”
Huge waves crashed over areas of Hong Kong’s eastern and southern shoreline on Wednesday, with widespread flooding submerging some roads and residential properties.
Seawater surged through the Fullerton hotel in the island’s south, shattering glass doors and inundating the lobby. No injuries were reported and the hotel said services were operating as normal.
Hong Kong’s Airport Authority said airlines would gradually resume flights starting from 6 a.m. (1000 GMT) on Thursday, with all three runways operating simultaneously.
Authorities said they were urgently repairing collapsed roads, trying to clear more than 1,000 fallen trees and respond to around 85 cases of flooding.
Prior to Ragasa’s arrival, authorities handed out sandbags on Monday for residents to bolster their homes in low-lying areas, while many people stockpiled daily necessities, leading to bare supermarket shelves and surging fresh vegetable prices.
($1 = 7.1235 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Farah Master in Hong Kong, Nicoco Chen in Zhuhai and David Kirton in Shenzhen; Editing by Stephen Coates and Philippa Fletcher)
