Hundreds of passengers found themselves stranded in Hong Kong International Airport after a major typhoon smashed into the city on Sunday (July 20) causing widespread disruption, damage, and dozens of injuries across the densely populated city.
Residents were warned earlier that Typhoon Wipha was developing into a Number 10 hurricane, the highest category used by local officials to classify the storms that devastate the region every year from July to October.
When Wipha struck on Sunday afternoon, some areas of the city saw gusts as high as 145mph with local residents seen on video being blown away in the winds, as the typhoon tore trees out of the ground and sent buildings’ scaffolding flying dangerously through the air.
With Hong Kong being both the fourth most densely populated city on earth and one of the busiest international airports for freight and passenger services, the high-speed winds of the Number 10 storm forced the cancellation of 500 weekend flights and left travellers sleeping in queues that snaked around the city’s “very busy” international travel hub.
Even more passengers flooded Hong Kong Airport after the typhoon passed over the city and was downgraded to a Number 3 tropical cyclone by Sunday night, as many tourists and locals attempted to make their missed connections.
With thousands of people expecting to get onto rescheduled flights, the airport was forced to open its runways through the night with even more services expected to run through Monday to get stranded passengers home.
A traveller from Indonesia named Amy said she had to spend 30 hours in the airport to secure her flight to Bali, after her 10am Sunday service was cancelled.
Speaking to the South China Morning Post, she said she had arrived at 6pm on Saturday to discover that the typhoon had grounded most flights.
After only being able to rebook for Monday morning, Amy was forced to spend a second night sleeping on the floor of the airport. “I have to sleep here … there is no choice,” she said.
Amy was not the only one who faced being stranded from Saturday night, with images from the airport showing passengers sleeping on luggage and chairs from Saturday evening, before Wipha struck. Many had been told to turn up at the travel hub as public transport would be cancelled on Sunday due to the storm.
A 35-year-old woman named Ika, whose Sunday flight with Singapore Airlines was cancelled, also took refuge in the airport as she awaited news of her next possible flight. She described how the departures terminal became “chaotic” with hundreds of passengers trying to find somewhere to rest and wait.
“Last night was the most chaotic, because there were so many people; now there are fewer people,” she said. “The chairs were very full of people, packed.
“I am a bit unhappy … we can’t go home, but [the airline] was very good to us. This morning they gave us drinks and also those biscuits, and in the afternoon too.”
Ultimately, she was forced to leave the airport, after only being able to get on a Tuesday flight to Bali, missing the first two days of work.
Hong Kong’s Eastern District councillor Kenny Yuen told Reuters: “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.”
However, the Hong Kong Observatory, the body that classifies storms in the area, said that Wipha had reached similar wind speeds and rainfalls as more damaging and deadly typhoons of recent years. Including 2023’s Typhoon Saola, which injured over 80 people and caused massive landslides.
However, Wipha’s impact proved to be less devastating, despite injuring at leat 26 people and uprooting hundreds of trees across the city – as well as collapsing large scaffolding projects.
And yet, some still went out to “storm chase.” Speaking to SCMP, hairdresser Johnny Chung, 52, said he had taken his wife and daughter to watch the typhoon make landfall.
“We just finished eating and I have a holiday, so I wanted to take my daughter to see the typhoon as she has never seen something like this before,” he said.
“I also want to let her know about the power of nature, so she knows that she has to be careful.”