The No.1 standby storm warning signal remained hoisted early today, while there is a “moderate to high chance” that the No.8 Typhoon Signal will be hoisted tonight, and the Blue Storm Surge Warning may be issued today as well, the local observatory forecast last night.
As of 2 a.m. this morning Severe Typhoon “Yagi” had intensified into a Super Typhoon, “Yagi” was located about 460 kilometres southeast of Macau, moving north-westward at about 10 km/h, approaching between the west coast of Guangdong and Hainan Island in the next two days, the observatory said early this morning.
The circulation associated with Yagi will begin to affect the Pearl River Estuary today, SMG said in a statement, adding that winds will gradually strengthen and thunderstorms will become more frequent during the day. It also said that it would consider hoisting the No.3 Signal early today.
The bureau forecast that Yagi may pass within about 300 kilometres south of Macau tomorrow, with frequent heavy showers and thunderstorms, so there is a possibility that the Tropical Cyclone Signal No.8 will be hoisted tonight.
The bureau also said it expected low-lying areas in the Inner Harbour to be flooded with about half a metre or less tomorrow, adding that if Yagi takes a more northerly path or intensifies significantly, flooding may be slightly more pronounced and a Yellow Storm Surge Warning could not be ruled out.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s observatory, which hoisted the No.3 tropical storm warning signal at 6:40 p.m. yesterday, forecast that the winds in Hong Kong will rise further later today, saying it was possible that the observatory may need to hoist a higher tropical cyclone warning signal in the afternoon or tonight.
Macau’s observatory said that it was closely monitoring the track of Yagi, urging the public to pay attention to the bureau’s latest weather information.
This graphic provided by the Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) at 10:50 p.m. yesterday shows the projected trajectory of Tropical Storm Yagi moving westwards towards the South China Sea.
