Hong Kong's international airport finally returned to business as normal Monday, three days after a typhoon scored a direct hit on the bustling city. More than 400 flights were cancelled or delayed because of Typhoon Nuri, which wreaked havoc across the former British colony on Friday.

Thousands of passengers were held up and forced to stay for one or two nights in the city of 6.9 million but airport officials said Monday afternoon all backlogs and hold-ups had been cleared.

As late as Monday morning, however, some passengers claimed they had still not managed to catch delayed flights, with one Taiwanese man reported stuck at the airport for three days.

Saturday saw an overwhelming scramble by passengers stranded in Hong Kong to catch flights out and it was not until late Sunday that all the grounded travellers had been able to leave.

Hong Kong's high-alert number nine storm signal was raised for the first time in five years on Friday when Typhoon Nuri struck, closing schools and offices and grounding transport.

One swimmer was missing and feared dead and 70 other people were reported to have been injured as Nuri blasted Hong Kong with hurricane winds of up to 129 kilometres per hour.