A Northland man says he's never heard anything like the wind of Typhoon Mangkhut as it battered his new home in Hong Kong over the past few days.
Paul Lafotanoa, a former Kerikeri-based NZME sales rep, moved to Hong Kong with his wife Kaiya, the former deputy principal of Oruaiti School in Doubtless Bay, and their son Eelia just a week before the monster storm hit.
![Paul and Kaiya Lafotanoa. Photo / Supplied](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/OXLQ34HEI6XTVKXZRI72M7ESXU.jpg?auth=8b3971c1bc9a6a8c96df75aab83a3f456f8d795c09d0cf052a4eb7e4a7ebd998&width=16&height=13&quality=70&smart=true)
They have spent the past few days trapped inside their apartment on the fifth floor of a high-rise building on Ma Wan Island.
''I've never heard anything like the noise of the wind. There were times it was pretty scary,'' Lafotanoa said.