Hundreds of flights hit as storm plays havoc in Hong Kong
- Last updated: July 21, 2025 | 11:17
Typhoon Wipha toppled trees and caused major flight disruptions on Sunday in Hong Kong and at some nearby airports in China as it moved west off the southern coast of the country.
Airports in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and the casino hub of Macao cancelled or postponed flights for most of the day, according to their websites. Hong Kong grounded at least 400 flights, affecting around 80,000 passengers, broadcaster RTHK said. Some high-speed train services were also suspended.
Cathay Pacific Airways cancelled all flights with Hong Kong airport between 5am and 6pm on Sunday. It waived ticket-change fees and arranged for rebooking. Most public transport in Hong Kong was suspended, including ferries amid high sea swells.
Earlier on Sunday, the Hong Kong Observatory issued a hurricane signal No.10, its highest warning. The eye of the storm passed just south of the city around midday with maximum sustained winds of 140kph, the observatory said.
The high winds brought down trees in Zhuhai and other cities on China’s southern coast.
In a statement, the government said 26 people sought treatment in public hospitals during the typhoon, while 253 flocked to its shelters, and 471 fallen trees were reported. Authorities suspended Sunday’s classes at all day schools and daycare centres. Local trains offered limited services while operations in open sections were suspended.
Wipha also brought heavy rains and flooding to the Philippines, where two people have been reported missing, according to the country’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
The typhoon stayed just offshore until about 6pm, when it made landfall in a coastal area of Taishan city in Guangdong province, China’s National Meteorological Center said. It then weakened to a severe tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 108kph.
“Compared to previous typhoons like Mangkhut and Hato, which caused much more astonishing destruction, the impact this time was primarily limited to fallen trees and collapsed scaffolding,” Eastern District councillor Kenny Yuen told Reuters.
He was speaking in front of collapsed bamboo scaffolding that had fallen from a residential compound under renovation in North Point near the city’s harbour and been swept onto the road.
Elsewhere in Asia, five days of torrential rain in South Korea has left 17 people dead and 11 others missing, the government said on Sunday.
South Korea typically experiences monsoon rains in July and is usually well-prepared. But this week, the country’s southern regions were hit with some of the heaviest hourly rainfall on record, according to official data.
Most of the deaths occurred in the southern county of Sancheong, which has seen nearly 800 millimetres of rain since Wednesday.
With the bodies of those who had gone missing retrieved on Sunday, the number of deaths in the rural county of 33,000 rose to 10, with four still unaccounted for.
Scientists say climate change has made extreme weather events more frequent and intense around the world.
Pakistan remains on high alert as the devastating impact of the ongoing monsoon season continues to claim lives and disrupt normalcy across the country. According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), at least 202 people have lost their lives since the start of the rainy season, with children accounting for nearly half of the fatalities.
Local media reported that 96 children are among the deceased, painting a grim and heartbreaking picture of the situation.
The storm, which reached typhoon strength overnight, later passed off Macao and was forecast to make landfall on China’s coast late on Sunday. It is expected to reach Vietnam later this week.
Wipha, which is a Thai name, passed over the Philippines at tropical storm strength and drenched parts of Taiwan on Saturday. Names for typhoons in the western Pacific are chosen by the countries in the region.
In the Philippines, the storm intensified seasonal monsoon rains, leaving at least one villager dead in floodwaters in northern Cagayan province.
More than 370,000 people have been affected by days of stormy weather, including 43,000 who fled to government-run emergency shelters or homes of relatives because of flooding, landslides and fierce winds. More than 400 houses were damaged, officials said.
Agencies