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moving directly towards Hong Kong, the No. 10 signalwas raised.As had occurred on 2 September 1937, the typhoonarrived with high tide, and a warning was issued of floodingin low-lying areas, particularly Tolo Harbour.At 9 am, hurricane-force winds were blowing over mostof Hong Kong, including a gust of 154 knots at Tate'sCairn. As the typhoon centre passed south of Waglan Island,a gust of 140 knots was recorded at the Royal Observatory -the highest gust reading noted there.Tides in Tolo Harbour rose some three metres abovenormal high tide, and wind driven waves were estimated tohave contributed an additional two metres on the downwindshore near Sha Tin.The main difference between Wanda and the killertyphoon of 1937 was that then the flooding had beenunexpected and occurred in darkness. Wanda's high watercame in daylight, and residents had been warned severalhours earlier.Therefore, although Wanda was one of Hong Kong'smost severe typhoons, the death toll of 130 was far lowerthan the estimated 11 000 in 1937. More than 260 mm ofrain fell over three days, the lowest pressure of 953.2 mb wasa record low and the maximum gust was the highest at theObservatory since gust recording began in 1911.Apart from death and damage throughout Hong Kong,Wanda had a direct effect on the Observatory - it wreckedthe weather radar at Tate's Cairn.As if to compensate for the violence of Wanda, rainfalldiminished in its wake so markedly that one of HongKong's worst droughts began in October 1962. As DirectorWatts was to report later, 1963 was, on average, the hottest,sunniest and least humid year since records began. Thedrought and the accompanying water crisis were front-pagenews throughout most of the year.As previously noted, May is normally a wet month, butrainfall in May 1963 was 6 mm, about one fiftieth of78