Typhoon Yutu - predicted to pass close to Hong Kong around 07:00 on 25th July 2001.

At 00:30 this morning I heard the patter of steady rain but no wind.  HKO
hoisted Typhoon Signal 8 at 00:30.
Now at 06:25 it is raining steadily but not heavily although there have
been breaks in the rain.
Winds are still pretty light here, but remember that our valley is very
sheltered.
Typhoon Yutu is currently centred 190 Km South of us with 150 km/h winds
near its centre.  It will be at its closest approach to Hong Kong within
the next half hour or so.
Typically, the strongest winds will arrive after it has passed us and is
moving away.
At this present moment though, the passage of Yutu is almost a non-event.
Even the sea level appears to be not any measurable amount above normal,
so I don't think there is much risk of flooding.
More later.

Although Typhoon Signal No 8 was still hoisted, the wind seemed slight
and the rain stopped about 08:30 so away I went down to the river bank.
I noticed that the sea level was about 40 cm above normal high tide (and
it was theoretically still low tide!  Waves of about 20 cm in height were
coming from the North East.
I walked a couple of kilometres South West along the river and heard
before I felt a noise approaching from behind.  I turned around and saw
much taller waves with white crests and by 08:55 the wind was approaching
gale force.  A large tree fell near Tsang Daaih Uk and I noticed one boat
sunk in the river.  However it looked as though the sinking was probably
not typhoon-related.
Several larger boats were using the river as a typhoon shelter.
I observed that the steel box framed sign at the Ecclesia Bible College
had blown over to a weird angle but not completely down.
At 09:00 the rain came and a brolly was needed.  
Walking back to the North East I had the wind (and rain) in my face.  I
took shelter five or six times under bridges and shelter sheds when the
rain got really bad.
While sheltering I observed that while the wind was generally from the
North East there were also several significant gusts from the South
East.  I wondered whether this indicates it is nearly time for HKO to
hoist the South East Gales signal, but the wind then became a steady NE-
er again.
By the time I had got nearly home the waves on the river were about 45 cm
and were breaking over the footpath.  The river height was now about 75
cm above normal high tide.  I decided on safety and travelled home via
the covered overbridge and through the underground car-parks, as the wind
and rain had become pretty savage.  I entered home around 09:45.
Now as I type conditions are far more typical of a number eight signal.  
The wind is gusting and howling around the building and the rain is
pelting against the windows.  I'm glad to be inside and glad we live in
such a sheltered valley.

There is little new to report on Yutu at this stage.  It is just a
dreary, drizzly, wet day here.
A few times we have heard the wind start to howl and looked out to see
the trees thrashing about, but we still haven't had any *REAL* wind from
this one.  Some areas of HK obviously had a little more: a quote from the
HKO:
DURING THE PAST HOUR, MEAN WIND SPEED WAS 67 KILOMETRES PER HOUR
AT CHEUNG CHAU WITH GUST REACHING 87 KILOMETRES PER HOUR. AT SHEK
KWU CHAU, MEAN WIND OF 72 KILOMETRES PER HOUR AND GUST OF 93
KILOMETRES PER HOUR WERE RECORDED.

There have been no injuries or damage reported so far in HK.  All the TV
news can find for their Typhoon Special reports is a few overturned
rubbish bins!

More later if we get any real news.
Signal Eight is still hoisted and likely to remain so for a few hours yet.

I haven't sent an update on Yutu for many hours as there has been nothing
to write.  
The TV news has only managed a few shots of upturned rubbish bins and
umbrellas blowing inside-out.  Macau copped it a lot worse than we did as
the TV news showed footage of major flooding.  
But for Hong Kong one could say that everybody had a holiday off work for
what was essentially a non-event.
At this moment as I type, Typhoon Signal Three is still hoisted, HKO
having replaced Signal Eight with it at 19:40 last night.  But as signal
3 means all schools are closed, I should imagine it will be lowered
within the hour as there is really no need for it any more.
During the evening and night we heard no more howling winds and even the
rain has been frequent but quiet - not pelting down like it did yesterday
morning.  The sea level looks to be about normal.
The 10-minute average wind speed recorded at Sha Tin AWS reached 20 km/h
at about 02:30 this morning, but if it made any noise then, I slept
through it!
The typhoon is already overland and more than 340 Km away from here and
travelling directly away from us, so I will be surprised if we get any
more real winds from it.  It will probably just rain for the next two
days.
Unless something happens during my walk shortly, this will probably be my
last report.

I went out for a walk this morning, leaving the flat at 06:20.  I had
made one last check on the Internet and seen that Typhoon Signal Three
was still hoisted at 06:14.
The first thing I noticed at 06:20 was that I looked at the Typhoon
Signal and observed that it had been lowered.
Arriving at the river bank, I found the sea level to be fully two metres
below where it had been at yesterday's walk.
While the surface of the river was not quite like a mirror, the splashes
of jumping fish suggested a reason for the small ripples that were
evident.
The wind was no more than a light breeze, barely able to stir a leaf.
The ground was covered with the usual post-typhoon debris: millions of
leaves and a few small twigs.
The boats were still using the river as a typhoon shelter, although they
each appeared in the words of the poet as "like a painted ship upon a
painted ocean" each atop its own inverted reflection.
I observed a medium sized tree in the middle of the river near Sand
Martin Bridge and observed that one more medium-sized tree had been blown
down at the top of the levee bank near Lion Rock Tunnel Road.
Apart from these there was no evidence that there had been a typhoon.
This will be the last report unless we receive damage reports from where
it went ashore in Southern China this morning.