Category 3 Typhoon (SSHS) | |
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Formed | 2 September 1937 |
Dissipated | 2 September 1937 |
Highest winds | 1-minute sustained: 200 km/h (125 mph) |
Lowest pressure | 958.3 mbar (hPa; 28.3 inHg) |
Fatalities | 11,000 dead |
Areas affected | Hong Kong |
Part of the 1937 Pacific typhoon season |
The Great Hong Kong Typhoon of 1937 was an unnamed typhoon in Hong Kong. It was one of the worst typhoons in Hong Kong history killing 11,000 people.[1]
Contents |
Hong Kong harbor at the time was the seventh busiest in the world. It was always alive with yachts, junks, ferries, sampans, freighters, liners, men-of-war. The typhoon wind was so strong that observatory instruments capable of registering winds up to 125 mph broke down.[2] Hong Kong Observatory have since recorded the wind with a mean wind average of 59 knots, 68 mph, 109 km/h. The maximum gust was at 130 knots, 149 mph, 240 km/h.[3] The piston of the anemometer hit the stops at 130 knots (240 km/h) and the true maximum gust could not be recorded.[3]