HK lowers No. 8 storm signal

Hong Kong Observatory lowered the storm signal number eight to number three at 1:40 p.m. local time on Wednesday. Severe Typhoon Utor is weakening and moving gradually away from Hong Kong.

Due to the weakening of the storm, the government services, bus and ferry, hospitals and other public services will gradually return to normal in the afternoon.

According to the Education Bureau, the morning and afternoon schools remain suspended. The Hong Kong stock exchange is canceled for the whole day on Wednesday.

At 2 p.m., Utor was estimated to be about 240 km west-southwest of Hong Kong (near 21.4 degrees north 112.1 degrees east) and is forecast to move northwest or north-northwest at about 16 km per hour towards the western coast of Guangdong.

The observatory said Utor will make landfall near Yangjiang over the western coast of Guangdong in the next few hours. Winds in Hong Kong are expected to weaken gradually, but the signal number three will remain in force for a period of time.