As the storm warning for Super Typhoon Ragasa passed, Mark Cholewka returned to his stylish Hong Kong restaurant to be met by overturned tables and the pungent smell of seawater.

Businesses in the financial hub's coastal areas have been devastated by Ragasa, the strongest typhoon of the year, which killed at least 14 people in southern Taiwan.

A viral video showed waves almost three metres (10 feet) high smashing through the windows of Cholewka's French restaurant, its interior furnishings submerged by churning waters within a minute.

"When you really see it live, it's just devastating," he told AFP on Thursday.

"We don't know how much (seawater) penetrated," he said, adding that his wooden floor was "probably ruined".

The damage to the facilities in his restaurant, in which he invest

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