Usagi update

I had posted yesterday about Typhoon Usagi. USA Today has an update:

Powerful typhoon hits Taiwan, Philippines
The most powerful typhoon of the year swept through the Luzon Strait separating the Philippines and Taiwan on Saturday, battering island communities and dumping rain as it eyes landfall in Hong Kong.

Super Typhoon Usagi had maximum sustained winds of 139 mph and gusts exceeding 163 mph Saturday morning, and was 550 kilometers south of Taipei, Taiwan's capital, according to the U.S. Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center. A storm achieves super typhoon status when winds reach 150 mph.

A bit more:

The U.S. Navy's warning center predicted that Usagi will approach Hong Kong with weaker but dangerous sustained winds of 110 mph early Monday morning, while the Hong Kong Observatory hoisted the No. 1 Standby Signal and warned the storm poses a "severe threat" to the city.

I hate to think of the damage to the boats -- Hong Kong has a lot of islands and is dependent on its fleet of small boats for commerce. Here she is as observed by the Japanese MTSAT-2 satellite: