Like pakodas on a rainy day, a weekday typhoon always whets the monsoon appetite. T8=holiday.When the mighty and not so mighty typhoons or tropical cyclones descend on HK between May and November, hits on the observatory website go up substantially. The office chatter post lunch is upbeat, telephone traffic peaks and furious speculations on chances of a T8 fly to and fro on chat windows.
A year ago, when we were initiated into the ritual, it was fun to check the typhoon progress every two minutes. P got three days off and when I started work, I managed to sneak out early on two days.
The Hong Kong observatory begins to issue warnings as soon as a typhoon comes within 800 kilometres of Hong Kong. Typhoon signal number one is immediately hoisted outside every shopping complex, office and residential building.
The observatory releases information on the typhoon’s position, intensity, wind speed, movement and expected rainfall.
Typhoon signal three is issued if a typhoon breaches the 800 kilometre distance, sea level wind speed goes up to 41-62 km/hour and gusts blow at or above 110 km/hour.
As the typhoon closes in, wind speed increases to 63-117 km/hour and gusts blow at or above 180 km/hour, typhoon signal eight is hoisted.
Check the link for more information on typhoons-
The baap of signals- Typhoon signal 10 is issued when a cyclone is just 100 kilometres off Hong Kong.
T8 signals on a working day are enough for the sleepy office goers to whoop in joy, do a jig and head back home.
Train and ferry services are usually suspended and you will only venture out if you like battling flying trees (if there are any), signboards or maybe a local considering how light they look.
However, before you let that feeble hope broaden into a smile, remember - the typhoon must make its presence felt early morning and stay put till late noon.
Bosses in HK are notorious for hurrying you to work in the morning and by the time the typhoon empties its bowels, you have nothing to do but work on boss killing charms in a near empty office. If the typhoon goes limp by noon, you will be expected to report for work post lunch.
PS: Usually the wailings of the exhaust fans warn me about the storm ahead. It is amazing to stand at my window and watch the sea changing colours. From a picture perfect blue on a sunny morning to dark grey as a thunderstorm approaches, the sea faithfully mirrors every mood swing of the heavens above.
It is achingly beautiful to watch a raging typhoon from the safety of my apartment when I know that elsewhere people would be fighting lost battles to salvage a bit of their lives being ravaged by a cyclone.
The world right now is an opaque grey. It was a T9 last night and the weather has been rough since then. Last night as I lay awake, I could imagine all stormy nights, I read about in classic novels. I wondered about Catherine of the Wuthering Heights and what it would be like to nurse a broken heart on such a night.
2 comments:
U know even as i was reading about the storm, i was thinking about wuthering heights for some reason and when u mentioned it in the end, i couldn't help but smile :) for all ur disclaimers about average writing, its very well written and paints a beautiful picture of everything that uve described :)
U and I r so different yet so alike in how we think ;) Thanx for all the wunnerful things you said.
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