“BETTER PRECAUTIONS”
Residents scrambled to stock up ahead of Ragasa’s arrival, leaving supermarket shelves empty of fresh food, vegetables and bread.
“There’s bound to be some concern,” said supermarket shopper Zhu Yifan, a 22-year-old student from China.
Zoe Chan, in her fifties, piled up sandbags outside her clothes shop in the Wanchai district, saying she expected her business to be “ruined” by water damage.
“The most important thing is to take better precautions, so I can rest easier,” Chan told AFP.
School classes will be suspended on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Hong Kong Jockey Club also cancelled Wednesday’s horse-racing meet.
Hong Kong’s stock exchange changed its rules this year to keep markets open during typhoons, with the operator telling Bloomberg News that it was “closely monitoring” the situation.
Authorities have told residents of low-lying areas to be alert to flooding while opening 46 temporary shelters.
Ragasa – named after the Filipino word for rapid motion – will be closest to Hong Kong and nearby casino hub Macau on Wednesday morning, according to Chinese weather services.
