T1 to stay until at least Friday evening

The Hong Kong Observatory said the Standby Signal No 1 would remain in force at least until 6pm on Friday

"In the past couple of hours, Maysak started to adopt a northwesterly track edging closer to Hainan Island, still maintaining quite some distance from Hong Kong," the weather forecaster said.

The Observatory said it would assess the need for issuing the Strong Wind Signal No. 3 depending on the changes in the intensity of Maysak, the distance of its strong winds from the Pearl River Estuary, and the local wind conditions.

It said intense gusts of around 80 kilometres per hour were recorded at Cheung Chau on Friday morning and the outer rainbands associated with Maysak are affecting the coast of Guangdong.

Edited by Tony Sabine ...