A historical re-analysis of the calamitous midget typhoon passing through Hong Kong on 18 September 1906 and its storm surge impact to Hong Kong Tropical Cyclone Research and Review

A typhoon passed through Hong Kong suddenly and unexpectedly on 18 September 1906 (the “Typhoon 1906”) and had a disastrous impact on Victoria Harbour and its surroundings in just a couple of hours. Since the year 1906 was the “Bingwu” year in the Chinese calendar, the typhoon is also known historically as the “Bingwu Typhoon”. Tremendous loss of lives and property resulted, and the shipping and fishing communities were devastated. Two mysteries arising from this calamitous typhoon have existed to date: 1) Why the Hong Kong Observatory was not able to provide any forewarning? 2) whether the storm surge reported in some contemporary records is entirely credible? This paper will focus on both of these.