Typhoon Usagi causes chaos in Hong Kong

The year’s most powerful typhoon was grinding closer to Hong Kong yesterday, forcing hundreds of flights to be cancelled and shutting down shipping after pummelling island communities in the Philippines and Taiwan with heavy rains and fierce winds.

Typhoon Usagi was expected to make landfall just north of Hong Kong late last night or early this morning, with forecasters warning that it posed a “severe threat” to the southern Chinese city.

Usagi — Japanese for rabbit — was classified as a severe typhoon, packing sustained winds of 175km/h, with gusts of up to 213km/h.