ENG-1960 — Page 295

COMMUNICATIONS

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On 1st June conditions became favourable for the formation of a tropical cyclone over the China Sea. On 3rd June a tropical depression named 'Mary' had developed and was centred about 400 miles south-southeast of the Colony. No 1 local storm signal was hoisted on the afternoon of the next day and was followed by No 3 in the evening. Further intensification took place and by 5th June 'Mary' was a severe tropical storm centred and almost stationary over the Paracel Islands. The next evening, as 'Mary' moved closer to Hong Kong on a northerly track, No 7 signal was hoisted. Winds became generally strong over the Colony on 7th June. No 8 signal was hoisted on the next morning and by the afternoon gales became persistent in the harbour area. The gales veered into the southeast quadrant that evening as 'Mary' con- tinued to move closer to the Colony and was intensifying. No 9 signal was hoisted at 1.07 a.m. on 9th June and No 10 signal at 3.30 a.m. The wind speed reached 103 knots in one gust at the Royal Observatory and 105 knots at Waglan Island. The typhoon centre passed very close to Cheung Chau around 4 a.m. and the winds there veered to southwest. The boat anchorages at Cheung Chau Bay are exposed to this direction and there were heavy casualties and many boats sunk. As the eye moved north- northeast across the northwest of the New Territories, the winds in Victoria Harbour also veered to southwest and then began to moderate. It was not until 11.20 p.m. on 9th June that the local storm signals were finally lowered.

The fishing community suffered heavily both in casualties and in loss of boats. Vegetable growers' losses were estimated at about $2,000,000 but the rice growers suffered comparatively little. Com- munications were disrupted and five ocean going ships broke away from their mooring buoys. One ship went aground on the airport promontory. Since 1884 there have been only two other storms which gave rise to persistent gales in the harbour during June, and 'Mary' came earlier and was more intense than either of these.

Local storm signals were hoisted again at the end of June to warn of typhoon 'Olive' but no serious damage or casualties resulted. The rain from this storm brought the total for June to 676.6 millimetres (26.64 inches) which was the fifth highest total for June on record. July was unusually hot, sunny and dry, with a record mean temperature of 84°F and a record mean maximum