By Leila Scott
As Typhoon Mangkhut approached SCAD’s Hong Kong campus last month, the city went into preparation mode.
The Typhoon was equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane. Unlike the other SCAD campuses, Hong Kong does not have an evacuation site. Therefore, students had to bare the storm within their apartments.
During the storm, Anami Hayes, who is spending his first quarter in Hong Kong, said, “it felt like an earthquake.” Hayes also said that, “although the windows were taped, the wind was so powerful that water came through the bathroom and kitchen vents.” Cleaning up their housing was difficult.
Brooklyn Etzel, a junior who has been at the Hong Kong campus for two quarters now, said, “Hong Kong is pretty protected [since] the other side of the island is exposed to the coast, so we didn’t have as strong as an impact as we could have. It took the city about two weeks to clean up all the debris.”
Thankfully the city was able to clean up the damage and every student remained safe. “Walking through the streets now, you wouldn’t know a typhoon just hit,” Etzel said.
As peak typhoon season comes to an end, Hong Kong shouldn’t have to deal with another situation like this. However, this experience may make the campus take additional precautions into place come next fall.
