11
EUROPEAN PRIVATE PROPERTIES:
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The
taxis, rickshaws and private vehicles had stopped.
following morning, when the wind had abated, the ferries
and buses were the first to resume a skeleton service.
Fallen trees blocked the passage of private vehicles on
the main roads, the Peak Tramway was impassable in two
places, and the permanent way of the Kowloon-Canton
railway was seriously damaged between Sha Tin and Taipo.
By noon, with the exception of the railway, the normal
services had been resumed, but roads on the higher levels
were still blocked either by trees, landslides or boulders,
and many telephone lines were broken. Twelve telephone
poles were blown down on the few miles of road from
Stanley Gaol to Island Road.
5. At Kai Tak Airport the landing light and aerials
were carried away, and at Hung Hom Wireless Station the
short-wave air service antennae were destroyed.
6. The destruction of two bridges and a length of
road rendered both roads to Tai Po practically impassable
for two days, and telephonic communication with New
Territories, Northern District, was resumed only after a
similar period. The cables connecting the islands of
Lan Tau and Cheung Chau with Hong Kong have not yet been
repaired.
7. The damage to European private properties was
less, perhaps, than might have been expected. The public
had ample warning of the approach of the typhoon and in
most cases were adequately prepared. Many roofs,
particularly on the higher levels, were stripped of their
tiles, windows were dashed in, street signs wrecked and
cars were overturned; but these caused no casualties.
8.
Bathing matsheds and huts, largely the property
of Europeans, at Repulse Bay, Stanley and the mainland
beaches, were destroyed or wrecked by a combination of the