September 22, 2025
HONG KONG – The Hong Kong Observatory said it will raise the T1 typhoon warning signal around noon on Monday as Super Typhoon Ragasa edged closer to the city, while authorities stepped up preparations, including contingency measures to deal with severe flooding and landslides.
The observatory said in an advisory on Sunday that it will issue the Standby Signal, No. 1, which means a tropical cyclone has come within 800 kilometers of Hong Kong, around lunchtime Monday as Ragasa was expected to intensify further as it enters the northern part of the South China Sea.
While Hong Kong could see fine and very hot weather on Monday, there will be swells and the weather will deteriorate rapidly on Tuesday, the HKO said, noting that Ragasa has an extensive circulation.
“Gale to storm force winds will prevail on Wednesday, and winds may reach hurricane force offshore and on high ground,” the observatory added.
To prepare for the super typhoon, Chief Secretary for Administration Eric Chan Kwok-ki chaired a meeting of the steering committee on handling extreme weather on Sunday to review and coordinate the city’s contingency measures.
The preparations include the Development Bureau stepping up preventive measures to deal with flooding, landslides and fallen trees, and ensure safety of building structures. Emergency control centers of relevant departments, with specially deployed additional manpower, are ALSO ready to be activated at any time.
The Drainage Services Department has completed inspections and clearance work at about 240 locations across the territory which are prone to flooding due to blockages.
The department has also increased the number of emergency response teams by 20 to a total of 200 to handle flooding and clear drainage channels in different districts, deployed powerful pumping robots on standby in advance at locations with higher risk of flooding, and distributed more sandbags.
Additional sandbags, which are more than double the usual amount, have been provided to areas with higher flooding risks, including Tai O, Lei Yue Mun, Sam Mun Tsai, Tai Po Market, Kar Wo Lei, low-lying areas in central Yuen Long, low-lying areas in northwest Yuen Long, To Tau Wan, Nam Wai and Heung Chung.
For high-risk coastal low-lying or windy residential areas, the DSD and the Civil Engineering and Development Department have been working closely with relevant departments to implement appropriate measures, including early warning systems and emergency response arrangements to cope with the potential threat of flooding caused by storm surges.
According to the observatory, Ragasa’s maximum sustained winds near the center reached 220 kilometers per hour as of 2 pm Sunday.
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This could intensify further to 240 km/h on Monday before going down to 220 km/h on Tuesday and to 185 km/h on Wednesday, when the super typhoon is expected to be closest to the city.
As of 4 pm Sunday, Ragasa was centered about 690 kilometers northeast of Manila and was forecast to move west-northwest at about 18 km/h 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.
READ MORE: ‘Super typhoon’ fears for HK residents as Ragasa likely to intensify
“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 6:30 pm Sunday.