‘Higos’ weakens into severe tropical storm

Rains battered Hong Kong as Higos skirted the city Wednesday morning.

‘Higos’ has weakened into a severe tropical storm after battering Hong Kong with rains and strong winds from Tuesday night to early Wednesday morning.

In its latest storm bulletin, the Hong Kong Observatory said Higos’ winds have weakened rapidly. The city is now placed under Storm Wind Signal No. 3.

It issued a No. 9 signal at 1:30 a.m when Higos was categorized as a typhoon. This is the first storm warning signal of this magnitude this year.

Hong Kong is under the Amber Warning signal—the lowest rainfall warning. Landslide and thunderstorm warnings are also in place.

Strong winds howled over the city early Wednesday morning. The government has reported at least 10 incidences of fallen trees.

Hospital outpatient clinics announced they will be closed earlier this morning. This included collection points for deep throat samples for coronavirus tests.

A spokesman for the Hospital Authority said they will resume operations gradually within two hours after the cancellation of the No. 8 signal.

Some bus companies such as KMB and Long Win announced routes will resume limited services, after suspending it due to the storm signal.

MTR train services are operational at 10-minute intervals, but the MTR bus service remains suspended.