Ms Wong was among the thousands of people across Hong Kong whose lives took a turn for the worse as torrential rains swept across the city yesterday morning.

She had, as on most days for the past four decades, arrived to open her stall at about 6am.

It was already raining quite hard but it was nothing she hadn't seen before. However, by 7am, with the water already about 60cm high, it was apparent that things were getting serious.

Ms Wong piled as many things as she could on higher shelves and then, as the floodwaters swept by her, went to shelter in a nearby building. She did not leave until after 10am.

She estimated that she had lost about HK$5,000 and a day's trading.

'I hope the newspaper companies will compensate me for some of my losses,' she said, as she set about trying to separate the pages of another damaged magazine.

A few metres away sat a muddy taxi from which its driver, a Mr Ip, and a passenger had to be plucked by firemen when the waters trapped them inside. 'I was just driving along here about 7am and the rain was really heavy,' Mr Ip said.

'Within about five minutes the water had risen so high that my car stopped running.

'We couldn't get out because of the weight of the water, which was already coming into the car. So I called 999 for help.'

While awaiting rescue he watched the mayhem unfold outside as two other taxis floated by and eventually smashed into each other.

'I am not sure if the insurance will cover the damage to the car,' Mr Ip said. 'I have already paid HK$10,000 to hire the taxi for this month, but now I don't even know if I will be able to work this week.'

However bad things were in Wan Chai, they paled in comparison to what was happening farther east, along the streets of Sheung Wan.

In scenes more commonly associated with places such as Bangladesh or rural communities along the banks of the Yangtze River, people waded through chest-deep dirty water in an effort to salvage whatever they could from shops and vehicles - or in the case of two travellers, to catch a flight at Chek Lap Kok.

Along Wing Lok Street, an area commonly hit by flooding during heavy downpours, the owner of a shoe-repair shop also surnamed Wong questioned government policy on the area's drainage system.

'We are situated in a low-lying area, and the government should think wisely about the geographical situation we have and what drainage system we need,' he said.

'The intercepting drains they are working on may not be effective to help out the flooding problem here.'

Mr Wong was one of the few shopkeepers who had prepared for the flooding, having moved all his stock and machinery off the floor and on to higher shelves.

Less able to prepare for flooding was the aquarium a bit further down the street, whose owners awoke to find many of their goldfish had escaped once waters rose above the level of their tanks.

'I just saw a fish swim past,' enthused a tourist marooned on a nearby footpath to a friend on the phone.

'I've been waiting here for half an hour for the water to go down so I can go home,' he explained after hanging up the phone.

'Does this happen all the time in Hong Kong?'