HK battens down as typhoon hits Offices, transport and the stock market are closed in Hong Kong as Typhoon Utor passes through. OFFICES, schools, transport and the stock market are closed in Hong Kong as a typhoon passes through the Asian financial centre. Dozens of flights were cancelled and bus and ferry services were curtailed as Typhoon Utor approached on Wednesday morning. Winds gusted up to 139km/h and the centre of the storm is expected to skirt around 250km southwest of Hong Kong before hitting southern China's Guangdong province. The storm brought gale-force winds, rough seas and squally showers. One person in Hong Kong was reported injured. Some 94 flights arriving at or leaving from the city's airport have been cancelled, while another 107 flights have been delayed. Along the coast of Guangdong, authorities are calling fishing boats back to port and securing buildings and equipment at aquaculture farms. The storm is expected to make landfall near the city of Maoming in the afternoon before travelling northwest into Guangxi province. Some flights and train service are suspended on the island province of Hainan to the south. Almost 2,000 passengers were stranded on Tuesday at the airport serving the resort city of Sanya. Utor is this year's strongest typhoon globally before it crossed the Philippines earlier. Rescuers are still struggling to reach at least three isolated towns in the hardest-hit Aurora province, where the typhoon slammed ashore.