Typhoon Saudel has been a bit of a pest. After becoming a typhoon in the West Pacific, it threatened my flight plans to Taipei last week; fortunately it made landfall along the mainland coast well north of Taiwan. But Saudel is one stubborn SOB: its remnants were able to strengthen to a tropical storm once it reached the waters of the South China Sea. After passing to the south of Hong Kong yesterday, as of 3 p.m. today it is expected to turn around and head straight towards the territory.

Saudel is not expected to cause damage to Hong Kong, but it reminded me -- and a few others -- of another typhoon exactly 40 years ago: Typhoon Wayne.

Typhoon Wayne (1986) was an extraordinarily peculiar storm; not only was it one of the longest-lived typhoons in recent memory, it crossed Taiwan twice and nearly struck a third time. In Hong Kong, the Observatory had to hoist signals on three separate occasions.

There were no reports of casualties in Hong Kong, but other places were not as fortunate. According to the then-Royal Observatory, about 490 people were killed: 52 in Taiwan, 36 in the Philippines, 2 in Hainan, and about 400 in Vietnam. Wayne brought destruction until the bitter end, capping a three-week rampage around the South China Sea.

(Thanks to @goofrider.bsky.social