How 1906 typhoon and tsunami that killed 10,000 people took Hong Kong Observatory by complete surprise
Disaster struck Hong Kong more than a century ago causing "immense destruction" on an unprepared city
Hong Kong’s worst natural disaster occurred 110 years ago today, when a typhoon and tsunami killed 10,000 people. On September 19, 1906, the South China Morning Post reported the “immense destruction” and “terrible loss of life” wreaked by the storm on an unprepared population. The absence of any warning from meteorological experts in Manila remains controversial.
The Hong Kong Observatory was reportedly unaware of the typhoon until about 8.30am, when the “glass fell rapidly” and a black signal went up to indicate the storm was 480km away. By 10am, the Post reported, it was impossible to see beyond a few yards and the accompanying wall of sound was described as the “deafening noise of a midnight express speeding through a tunnel”.
By noon, the worst was over and the destruction laid bare. Streets were flooded, shops submerged and roads blocked by debris and uprooted trees.
On September 20, the Post listed 47 boats destroyed and reported that half of Hong Kong’s 2,000 junks had been damaged. Passenger steamers were wrecked, the Monteagle carried ashore and the Kwongchow sunk, “nothing left visible but her funnel”. The new roof of the Star Ferry pier had been crushed and crumpled like “an old bonnet”.
