The Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) raised the storm signal to T10 -- the highest level possible -- Sunday morning local time, with the city almost entirely shut down. Mangkhut was recorded packing sustained winds of 173 kilometers per hour (107 miles per hour) and gusts up to 223 kilometers per hour (138 miles per hour) as the storm's eye passed south of the territory in the early afternoon, according to the HKO. Typhoon Mangkhut roared toward densely populated Hong Kong and southern China on Sunday after ravaging across... (Associated Press) 
 
 HONG KONG (AP) — Typhoon Mangkhut barreled into southern China on Sunday after lashing the northern Philippines with strong winds and heavy rain that left at least 36 people dead and dozens more feared buried in a landslide. Ahead of the massive typhoon, nearly half a million people had been evacuated from seven cities in China's Guangdong province, the gambling enclave of Macau closed casinos for the first time and the Hong Kong Observatory warned people to stay away from the Victoria Harbour landmark, where storm surges battered the sandbag-reinforced waterfront. The official death toll complied by the Philippines disaster agency still stands at zero as it instituted a stringent criteria for associating deaths with storms following Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. The region braces 
 
 Hong Kong's famed Victoria Harbor was hit with a storm surge of more than 3.9 meters (12.8 feet) above chart datum Sunday. More than 550 flights have been canceled at airports in Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, and more than 200 have been delayed, according to Flightaware.com. Buildings across the city were either boarded up or had their windows taped in order to mitigate the damage of broken glass. Police said 40 residents in the block were evacuated and no one was injured. The typhoon struck at the start of the rice and corn harvesting season in the Philippines' northern breadbasket, prompting farmers to scramble to save what they could of their crops, Cagayan Gov. It made landfall in the Philippines Saturday at 1:40 a.m. local time, packing winds of up to 270 kph (165 mph), 120 kph (75 mph) stronger than Hurricane Florence that hit North Carolina 
 
 Known locally as Ompong, Mangkhut ripped roofs off buildings, uprooted trees, blocked roads with debris and dumped water on fields of crops. Dozens of windows in Hung Hom office building One Harbourfront smashed, with shattered glass piled up on the street below. Walls collapsed, bamboo scaffolding was torn down and windows were blown out – Typhoon Mangkhut, one of the most powerful storms to ever hit Hong Kong, battered the city on Sunday. Hide Caption 5 of 66 Photos: In photos: Typhoon Mangkhut A former school in the Hong Kong village of Shek O was destroyed by Typhoon Mangkhut. The pair were with colleagues and firefighters dealing with a collapse 15-metre tree at the junction of Clear Water Bay Road and Pik Sha Road at the time. Typhoon... (Associated Press) 
 
 Residents work to repair a damaged roof due to strong winds from Typhoon Mangkhut after it barreled across Tuguegarao city in Cagayan province, northeastern Philippines on Sunday, Sept. 16, 2018.
– Typhoon Mangkhut, which CNN labels "the world's strongest storm this year," barreled into southern China on Sunday after lashing the northern Philippines with strong winds and heavy rain that left at least 36 people dead and dozens more feared buried in a landslide. Ahead of the massive typhoon, nearly half a million people had been evacuated from seven cities in China's Guangdong province, the gambling enclave of Macau closed casinos for the first time, and the Hong Kong Observatory warned people to stay away from the Victoria Harbour landmark, where storm surges battered the sandbag-reinforced waterfront. Mangkhut made landfall in the city of Taishan, reports the AP, packing wind speeds of 100mph. Authorities in southern China issued a red alert, the most severe warning, as the national meteorological center said the densely populated region would face a "severe test caused by wind and rain." On Sunday morning, the typhoon packed sustained winds of 96mph and gusts of up to 118mph. The Hong Kong Observatory said although Mangkhut had weakened slightly, its extensive, intense rainbands were bringing heavy downfall and frequent squalls. Hundreds of flights were canceled. All high-speed and some normal rail services in Guangdong and Hainan provinces were halted, the China Railway Guangzhou Group Co. said. In Hong Kong, a video posted by residents showed the top corner of an old building break and fall off while in another video, a tall building swayed as winds blew. The storm also broke windows, felled trees, tore bamboo scaffolding off buildings under construction, and flooded areas with sometimes waist-high waters, per the South China Morning Post. The paper said heavy rains brought storm surges of 10 feet around Hong Kong.