On Monday, clearing operations have begun in Hong Kong, Macau and Southern China after Super Typhoon Mangkhut swept the region this past weekend.
After passing through Northern Philippines and killing at least 50 people, it traversed through Southern Hong Kong and Macau before reaching Southern China. A majority of South Hong Kong and Macau were severely flooded but fortunately, no casualties. According to state broadcaster China Central Television, four people were killed in Guangdong when the typhoon made its landfall early Monday.
The state broadcaster also reported that flood warnings were issued for 38 rivers in neighboring regions of Guangxi, while big waves were recorded in 12 coastal stations. More than 13,300 hectares of farmland had also been affected.
Xinhua reported that at least 2.45 million people were evacuated in Guangdong to prevent casualties.
The China Meteorological Administration called Mangkhut "King of Storms" as it passed by Guangxi province at 6:00 am and weakened to a "tropical storm" as it makes its way to Guizhou, Chongqing and Yunnan later in the day.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong authorities are slowly cleaning up the debris that accumulated across the region. Some of them included broken windows as some skyscrapers were damaged byt he strong winds. The Hong Kong stock and financial markets opened as normal on Monday, as well as in Shenzhen. Operations for transportation remain suspended, but some flights have been resumed as normal.
In Macau, authorities managed to lessen the casualties and damages since they had casinos close as early as Saturday night before the typhoon hit. The casinos were opened once more on Monday, but power outages remain in 20,000 households across the country.
