Rain pounded Hong Kong on Sunday as Typhoon Wipha skirted southwards, packing winds exceeding 167 kph (103 mph), disrupting 400 flights and public transport, felling hundreds of trees, and damaging a construction site.

The tropical cyclone was expected to make landfall in mainland China later on Sunday with winds equivalent to those of a Category 2 Atlantic hurricane.

Wipha, a Thai name, passed over the Philippines at tropical storm strength and drenched parts of Taiwan on Saturday. In the Philippines, the storm intensified seasonal monsoon rains, leaving at least a villager dead in floodwaters in northern Cagayan province.