Trees downed by the typhoon?

The super typhoon Saola has just passed by Hong Kong.  It came close but did not hit Hong Kong directly.  But close enough for the the most severe signal, number 10, to be hoisted. 

Many trees were blown down.  Many branches, big and small, were torn from the trees and strewn around.  It will take many days to clear them from the streets and sidewalks. Some pretty big ones, 9 inches or more in diameter, were broken into 2.  Such is the power of the typhoon. 

Upon closer inspection, however, some of them have big, rotting holes in the middle of the tree trunk.  That would certainly weaken the tree, making them easier to break in the storm. 

Many trees were uprooted.  Thereby exposing their root systems.  In almost all cases, the root system was pitifully small, compared to the size of the tree.  That is, of course, partly due to the constricted way the trees are allowed to grow.   

So, in reality, was it the typhoon that killed those trees?  Or it was actually the way our trees are (mis)treated?  It has been commented many times, that our trees are managed by people who do not have sufficient knowledge about trees.  

That should not come as a surprise. Many people say the same is true of many things in Hong Kong, such as education.  How many of the people in charge of education truly know or care about education?  How many of the people appointed to the university councils do?