Hong Kong building owners could incur millions of dollars in costs and require a year to repair glass curtain walls damaged by storms, experts have said, as Super Typhoon Ragasa sparks safety concerns with its potential record wind speeds.
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The Observatory warned on Monday that Ragasa could pose a “considerably larger” threat than Super Typhoon Mangkhut, which resulted in at least 500 cases of smashed windows or glass curtain walls in 2018.
Building experts said on Monday that owners and property management companies should take precautionary measures, while the government could consider tightening inspections of glass facades, a popular material for commercial and residential buildings.
Hong Kong Association of Property Management Companies spokesman Johnnie Chan Chi-kau explained that glass curtain panels could be damaged by external forces, such as debris and wind, adding that strong wind could also pull away windows if they were not properly closed.
Chan warned that it could take six months to a year to repair a significantly damaged glass facade, with the cost for one panel running into the five or six digits, depending on the size, material and design.
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“Property management companies and owners should take precautionary measures … The cost will be much cheaper than a large repair,” he said, citing an example of adding safety nets to protect the towers from being hit by debris.