HK keeps eye on storm as Rai hammers Philippines

Super Typhoon Rai may come within 400 kilometers of Hong Kong on Tuesday, forecasters say.

If so, it would be the first time since 1974 a typhoon warning would be hoisted in December.

The typhoon was crossing the central Philippines last night and was expected to be in the South China Sea after the weekend.

Hundreds of thousands of people in the Philippines fled homes and seafront areas as Rai slammed into the country, the strongest storm to hit the disaster-prone archipelago this year.

It was packing maximum sustained winds of 195 kilometers an hour as it made landfall on the southern island of Siargao at 1.30pm.

"This monster storm is frightening and threatens to hit coastal communities like a freight train," said Alberto Bocanegra, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in the Philippines.

The observatory expects Rai to go from a super typhoon to a typhoon on Sunday, when it will turn to a northerly track near Vietnam and get closer to the SAR.

The observatory forecast includes cloud bands associated with Rai bringing six consecutive rainy days to Hong Kong from Monday.

The observatory's tropical cyclone track shows Rai closest to Hong Kong on Tuesday - during the Winter solstice - coming within 400 kilometers.

Today's temperature in the morning will be about 21 degrees Celsius and sunny periods are expected during the day. But the temperature is expected to drop to 17 degrees in urban areas at night. That will come with winds strengthening gradually from the north.

The observatory also forecasts the lowest temperature at 14 degrees on Sunday.

"Hong Kong is rarely threatened by tropical cyclones during winter," it noted.

Since 1961 there have been just four tropical cyclones that came within 500 kilometers of Hong Kong in December.

The only time the observatory hoisted a typhoon signal in December was in 1974. That was when severe tropical storm Irma was close to Hong Kong on December 1, with a No 3 signal hoisted.

The next day, a record-breaking December rainfall of 177.3 millimeters was recorded.

maisy.mok@singtaonewscorp.com