Typhoon Ruby (1964)

Typhoon Ruby, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Yoning, was a strong tropical cyclone that struck Hong Kong, Macau, and southern China in early September 1964. The precursor disturbance to Ruby was first identified on August 29 over the Philippine Sea, and this system organised into a tropical cyclone by September 1. Ruby intensified as it moved west, becoming a typhoon the next day and subsequently passing over the Babuyan Islands of the Philippines. After reaching the South China Sea, Ruby turned northwest and intensified further, attaining peak ten-minute sustained winds of 195 km/h (120 mph) before making landfall at the peak intensity near Hong Kong on September 5. The typhoon weakened after moving inland and dissipated on September 6 over southeastern China.

Despite brushing Philippines as a typhoon, no impacts were recorded. Ruby was one of the strongest typhoons to hit Hong Kong in the city's history. The storm produced a peak wind gust of 268 km/h (166 mph) at Tate's Cairn and a gust of 230 km/h (143 mph) on Waglan Island; the latter was the strongest gust observed for that site. The storm sank 314 fishing vessels and destroyed or damaged thousands of homes. Rain-triggered landslides and wind-blown debris caused 300 injuries. Among locales in Hong Kong, Tai Po was most seriously affected. A total of 38 fatalities were attributed to Ruby in Hong Kong, though another 14 people remained unaccounted for. A wind gust of 211 km/h (131 mph) generated by Ruby in Macau was the strongest gust measured there on record; at least 20 fatalities were reported in Macau. The typhoon caused serious flooding along the mouth of the Pearl River in Guangdong Province in South China, where at least 700 people were killed.

Meteorological history

The genesis of Typhoon Ruby stemmed from the interaction of a trough of low pressure and a westward-propagating tropical wave. This interaction led to the formation of a wind circulation west of Saipan on August 29, 1964. It initially moved west-northwest before curving west. Nimbus 1, a weather satellite, was used to detect and locate this precursor disturbance 21 hours prior to investigation from aircraft reconnaissance. For the first twelve hours on September 1, the disturbance became a tropical depression, and by around 12:00 UTC, the tropical depression had strengthened into a tropical storm while over the central Philippine Sea, 965 km (600 mi) east of Basco, Batanes, in the Philippines. Ruby initially moved slightly south of west with a forward speed of 28 km/h (17 mph). It became a severe tropical storm within 18 hours of tropical cyclogenesis according to data from the Hong Kong Observatory (known as the Royal Observatory in 1964). Aircraft reconnaissance estimated one-minute maximum sustained winds of 100 km/h (65 mph) on their first intercept of the system on September 1. Data from the JTWC and HKO indicate Ruby became a typhoon by 12:00  UTC on September 2.

Ruby passed north of Luzon and across the Babuyan Islands as a typhoon on September 3 with one-minute sustained winds estimated by the JTWC at 140 km/h (85 mph) and ten-minute sustained winds estimated by the HKO at 120 km/h (75 mph). According to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), Ruby's barometric pressure reached a minimum of 972 hPa (mbar; 28.70 inHg) during this time; this is disputed by the HKO and the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), which both analysed Ruby's pressure to have continued falling for at least two more days. On September 4, Ruby turned towards the northwest while 200 km (125 mi) northwest of Luzon. While ship observations were scant in the northern South China Sea following the issuance of typhoon warnings, aircraft reconnaissance and satellite imagery provided data on Ruby's position and intensity as it approached Hong Kong, Macau, and the southeastern coast of China. On September 5, Ruby's one-minute sustained winds topped out at 220 km/h (140 mph) according to the JTWC, with the HKO reporting ten-minute sustained winds peaking at 195 km/h (120 mph); in the HKO classification system, this made Ruby a super typhoon. The CMA and HKO both estimated Ruby's central atmospheric pressure bottomed out at 960 hPa (mbar; 28.35 inHg). Ruby made landfall near Hong Kong at peak intensity at around 09:00 UTC on September 5. Its eye spanned approximately 30 km (20 mi) across. Ruby weakened after moving inland, degenerating into a tropical storm by September 6 and dissipating inland over southeastern China later that day.

Preparations and impact

Storm warnings were issued for northern Luzon and the Babuyan and Batanes islands on September 3. The Royal Observatory Hong Kong declared tropical cyclone signal no. 1 at 22:15 UTC on September 3 when Ruby was centered roughly 595 km (370 mi) east of Hong Kong. The Royal Observatory escalated these warnings as Ruby approached, with signal no. 3 issued at 18:35 UTC on September 4 and later signal no. 10 at 02:40 UTC on September 5; signal no. 10 was in effect for nearly four hours. As the storm passed, the signal severity decreased and the final signal was lifted at 04:50 UTC on September 5 after over 42 hours of active warnings. Ruby was the fifth typhoon to warrant the issuance of the no. 10 signal in Hong Kong since the inception of the modern tropical cyclone signal system in 1946 and the first two of these signals in 1964.

Ruby was the fourth tropical cyclone to enter the vicinity of Hong Kong in 1964, a year that featured a record amount of storms tracking near the Crown territory. Gale

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