Schools and the stock market were closed in Hong Kong on Monday as Typhoon Talim swept south of the city.
As the financial hub braced for rainy and windy weather, more than 100 people sought refuge at temporary shelters. Some government and ferry services were halted and various events were postponed. The city's airport authority said 16 flights were cancelled.
The Hong Kong Observatory raised a No. 8 typhoon signal, the third-highest warning under the city's weather system, at 12:40am on Monday. It was the first signal of its kind hoisted this year.
The weather forecaster expects Talim — with maximum sustained winds reaching 140 kilometres per hour — to skirt within 300 kilometres to the south-southwest of Hong Kong on Monday morning.
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China's National Meteorological Centre forecast the typhoon would make landfall in the coastal regions of neighbouring Guangdong province and Hainan province on Monday night before entering the Gulf of Tonkin and making another landfall in the Guangxi region on Tuesday. Talim is expected to weaken on Wednesday in Vietnam, it added.
In Hong Kong, the government received 18 reports of fallen trees. Residents were urged to stay away from the shoreline and avoid water sports activities, the observatory said.
