I wanted to go to Hong Kong today. Or Macau. Either. Or. To be somewhere other than my apartment. Mother Nature had other plans.

From the Hong Kong Observatory:

The No. 8 Northeast Gale or Storm Signal is in force.

This means that winds with mean speeds of 63 kilometres per hour or more are expected from the northeast quarter.

At 8 a.m., Severe Tropical Storm Kammuri was centred about 150 kilometres south of Hong Kong (near 21.0 degrees north 114.0 degrees east) and is forecast to move west-northwest at about 14 kilometres per hour, edging closer to Hong Kong.

Local winds continued to strengthen over the past few hours. Occasional storm force winds are now affecting offshore and high grounds

According to the present track, local wind direction will change from northeast to southeast during the day. Areas previously sheltered from the winds will become exposed. The public should beware of the change in wind direction and take precautions as soon as possible.

In the past hour, the maximum sustained winds recorded at Waglan Island, Sai Kung and Ngong Ping were 105, 64 and 158 kilometres per hour respectively.

No excursion for The Stevo today.

From Xinhua News:

BEIJING, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) — China’s State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said on Tuesday night it has launched a level-three disaster control emergency response to cope with tropical storm Kammuri.

Kammuri, the ninth tropical storm this year, was expected to make landfall along the coast between the cities of Shenzhen and Dianbai in Guangdong Province on Wednesday, the headquarters said.

Chen Lei, deputy commander-in-chief of the headquarters, ordered local governments to start their emergency response mechanisms and make full preparations for the storm’s landfall.

Local governments should monitor and forecast the situation and make all-out efforts to avoid casualties, said Chen.

As you can see from the map, my town, Shenzhen, will only be on the periphery. Yeah, okay. It almost 9 am and the wind is howling away. The storm proper, isn’t suppose to arrive until early tomorrow morning. If the direction changes…

Kammuri is Japanese for the constellation Corona Borealis, which resembles a crown. There is nothing starry or royal about this storm. Who picked the name? Completely irrelevant. But, I digress…

I’ll head out for supplies, make sure both my laptops are charged in case the power goes out, get some candles and beer ready, and be prepared to watch the show.

Tropical storms, typhoons, etc. aren’t much of a big deal. An inconvenience, yes, but they happen all summer long. At least I don’t live in Fujian or Taiwan province, they bear the brunt of most storms during typhoon season.

If you don’t see me in your RSS Reader for a day or two I probably have no electricity.

Yours from storm central,
Stevo

Image from: HK Observatory.
Links: HK Observatory, Xinhua News