Hong Kong resumed flights out of its international airport on Thursday (September 25, 2025) after a 36-hour suspension, reopening businesses, transportation services and some schools after the world’s most powerful tropical cyclone this year lashed the financial hub.

Ragasa brought the densely populated city to a standstill from Tuesday afternoon, after sweeping through the northern Philippines and Taiwan where it killed 14, before making landfall on the southern Chinese city of Yangjiang on Wednesday.

More than 100 people were injured in Hong Kong, where authorities imposed the highest typhoon signal 10 for most of Wednesday.

On Thursday, the observatory maintained its second-lowest typhoon signal 3, keeping kindergartens and some schools shut as Ragasa moved away from the city and weakened into a tropical storm.

Huge waves crashed over areas of Hong Kong’s eastern and southern shoreline on Wednesday, with widespread flooding submerging some roads and residential properties.

Seawater surged through the Fullerton hotel on the island’s south, shattering glass doors and inundating the lobby. No injuries were reported and the hotel said services were operating as normal.

Hong Kong’s Airport Authority said airlines would gradually resume flights starting from 6 a.m. (1000 GMT) on Thursday, with all three runways operating simultaneously. “It is anticipated that flights will be scheduled until late into late night tomorrow, handling over 1,000 flights at the normal level,” it said, adding that it expected airport operations to be busy on Thursday and Friday.

Authorities said they were urgently repairing collapsed roads, trying to clear more than 1,000 fallen trees and respond to around 85 cases of flooding.

Prior to Ragasa’s arrival, authorities handed out sandbags on Monday for residents to bolster their homes in low-lying areas, while many people stockpiled daily necessities, leading to bare supermarket shelves and surging fresh vegetable prices.

The Philippines suspended work and classes across Metro Manila and large parts of the country on Monday (September 22, 2025) as Super Typhoon Ragasa moved toward northern Luzon, threatening destructive winds and heavy rain.

State weather officials raised the highest typhoon warning over the remote Babuyan Islands, urging residents in low-lying and coastal communities to evacuate ahead of storm surges and possible flooding.

Packing maximum sustained winds of 205 kph (127 mph) and gusts of up to 250 kph, Ragasa was forecast to make landfall or brush past the Babuyan Islands around midday before crossing the Luzon Strait.

While it will not directly hit Taiwan, the typhoon’s outer band is expected to bring heavy rain to the island’s sparsely populated east coast. Taiwan has issued land and sea warnings and cancelled flights to eastern cities, including Taitung and Hualien.

The storm is then forecast to hit Hong Kong as it blows toward the coast of southern China. The financial hub has asked residents to prepare for one of the strongest typhoons in years and is considering shutting its airport for 36 hours, Bloomberg News reported.

Philippine forecasters warned of widespread power outages, landslides, and dangerous seas as the storm’s outer bands began lashing northern Luzon. Airlines have cancelled more than a dozen domestic flights, mostly on Luzon routes, while ports have suspended ferry services.