HK fights flooding with highest hourly rainfall in 139 years

HONG KONG - All departments of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government have been instructed to respond with all-out flood control efforts after Typhoon Haikui brought record rainfall to the city, shattering a 139-year-old record.

The Hong Kong Observatory recorded hourly rainfall of 158.1 mm between 11 pm on Thursday and midnight – the highest since 1884 when recordkeeping started.

The Emergency Monitoring and Support Center under the Security Bureau was activated at 11:05 pm on Thursday. The disciplined services are handling emergency requests. Teams from a number of government departments, including the Drainage Services Department (DSD), the Highways Department (HyD), the Home Affairs Department (HAD) and other departments are taking full response actions across the city.

The HAD activated its Emergency Coordination Center right after the Black Rainstorm Warning Signal was issued at 11:05 pm on Thursday, and opened the first temporary shelter at 11:35 pm. As of 1:00 am Friday, twelve temporary shelters are open.

In response to water discharge from Shenzhen Reservoir at midnight, the North District Office arranged vehicles to evacuate people from six villages.

In a statement issued on Thursday evening, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu expressed his concern about severe flooding in most parts of the territory.

A spokesman for the HKSAR government urged members of the public to stay indoors and away from low-lying areas. The spokesperson also appealed to employers to consider flexible arrangements for employees in view of traffic disruptions. The observatory urged the public to seek safe shelter and avoid traveling as heavy rain is expected to fall generally all over Hong Kong, exceeding 70 mm in an hour, and likely to continue.

Several metro stations and pedestrian tunnels were inundated by torrential rain brought on by a "trough of low pressure associated with (the) remnant of Typhoon Haikui". All-day schools were suspended on Friday.

Also on Friday, all day trading sessions for stocks and derivatives, as well as bank operations were suspended. Trading in gold was also halted, according to the Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange.

The Black Rainstorm Warning issued at 11:05 pm on Thursday is expected to be in force till 6 pm Friday, making it the longest black rainstorm warning in place since 1884. The previous record was 5 hours and 47 minutes on Aug 23, 1999.

As of 7 am on Friday, 44 confirmed reports of flooding were received, with knee-high water in Kowloon's major thoroughfare. With flooding reported across vast swathes of Hong Kong, public transportation remained severely disrupted. Trains from Admiralty to Lo Wu are running every 15 minutes, and trains from Admiralty to Lok Ma Chau every 30 minutes.

As of 8 am Friday, the government received seven reports of landslide, six on Hong Kong Island and one in New Territories.

The Kowloon Motor Bus started running limited service from 9 am on Friday. Long Win Bus would only provide limited service along S1, S64C and S64X routes.

Sun Ferry also announced to provide limited service from North Point to Hung Hom and Kowloon City.

Some passenger and cargo clearance points at two border control points between Hong Kong and neighboring city Shenzhen were suspended due to flooding, the HKSAR government said. Macao ferry operators in Hong Kong said several ferry trips would be suspended to the neighboring SAR owing to widespread flooding in the financial center.

Macao's weather bureau issued the lowest "yellow" rainstorm warning on Friday which allows schools and businesses, including the casinos to open as normal.

With inputs from Agencies