Hong Kong’s Tseung Kwan O promenade, popular among runners, cyclists and dog walkers, has been left in ruins after Super Typhoon Ragasa battered the city.
The pedestrian walkway and cycling track at the Tseung Kwan O Waterfront Park were covered with mud and debris on Thursday, a day after the coastal neighbourhood was hit hard by Ragasa. Some sections of the track remained flooded, and metal railings that lined parts of it had partially collapsed in the howling winds.
Along the promenade that stretches from Tseung Kwan O town centre to Tiu Keng Leng were fallen trees and objects blown away by the gale-force winds, including granite blocks that covered a long stone bench along the waterfront, exposing the reinforcement bars.
Lena, who lives nearby, brought a hand pruner to the waterfront on Thursday in an effort to save some of the uprooted trees. She told HKFP that it was “regrettable” to see the trees being tossed away as rubbish in the typhoon aftermath. She picked up a few branches and said she hoped to propagate them in water, before repotting them into soil at home.
See also: HKFP Lens: Super Typhoon Ragasa ravages Hong Kong – Part 1
Businesses at the waterfront saw severe damage after the area was pummelled by tides as high as seven metres. Outside Frites at Monterey Place, pieces of debris-covered furniture were turned upside down and torn apart. Next door, Bistro La Baie, saw worse destruction, after raging tides broke its glass doors and rushed into the restaurant. CCTV footage that captured the scene went viral on social media on Wednesday.
The French bistro was in a state of chaos on Thursday, with toppled furniture, a wrecked kitchen top, lopsided wall decorations and a floor covered in mud water. Mark Cholewka, founder and CEO of the restaurant, told HKFP that he estimated the loss of revenue due to the typhoon damage and cost of repair to be between HK$5 million to HK$7 million. He spent HK$7 million setting up this restaurant more than three years ago, he said.
“It’s devastating. We’ve had a really hard time over the last year. Revenue had gone down for a lot of retail and F&B. This summer has been extraordinarily wet, windy and rainy, so leading to the summer was not that great. September was looking great, and then now, it’s devastation. I feel terrible,” Cholewka said.
The restaurant owner said the eatery had braced many typhoons before, but they were not “as bad as this one.” He also said he thought the restaurant was located “far enough back and high enough up,” so he only anticipated flooding but not “total devastation.”
He went on to say that the restaurant’s lease is expiring in February next year, and he and his team will need to consider whether or not to continue after the eatery sustained such serious damage.
When asked if the government should offer assistance to businesses like his to recover from damages by Rasaga, Cholewka said it would be welcomed by the food and beverage community.
“It would be certainly helpful to have some sort of disaster relief fund,” he said.
On Thursday, Sai Kung district councillor Christine Fong mobilised a team of around 50 volunteers to help clear debris around the Tseung Kwan O waterfront. Some residents who passed by also volunteered to help.
Fong told HKFP that although the damage caused by Ragasa was less severe compared to the destruction that accompanied super typhoons Hato in 2017 and Mangkhut in 2018, it will still take at least a month to fix the structural damage along the promenade.
Ragasa was one of the strongest typhoons Hong Kong has seen in recent years, rivalling Hato in 2017 and Mangkhut in 2018. It is said to be the strongest the world has seen this year.
The super typhoon, prompted the Hong Kong Observatory to hoist the highest tropical cyclone signal in the early hours of Wednesday, led to more than 1,200 reports of fallen trees across the city. There were also 22 flooding cases and four reports of landslides.
Hong Kong’s eastern and southern coastlines in particular experienced significant flooding, notably in Heng Fa Chuen. Waves caused by storm surges also shattered the glass doors of the Fullerton Ocean Park hotel in Aberdeen, flooding the lobby.
A total of 101 people were injured during the typhoon, while 905 people sought refuge at temporary shelters.
Climate crisis
Tropical cyclones – which get their energy from warm ocean water – are strengthening and become ever more destructive because of warming seas. Over 90 per cent of excess heat in the atmosphere is ending up in oceans, according to NASA, as rising greenhouse gases prevent it from escaping to space.
