Internet users in the Pearl River Delta will be able to track lightning strikes quickly and accurately when five monitoring stations are built next year.
Joseph Poon Hoi-to, senior scientific officer of the Hong Kong Observatory, said it was intended people could learn the location of a lightning strike - to an accuracy of 500 metres - within a minute of it occurring.
An agreement between the Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong governments to build the lightning location information system at a cost of $8 million was announced yesterday.
Lam Chiu-ying, director of the Hong Kong Observatory, said with lightning causing so much damage, it was important to warn people and companies about the onset of storms. Lightning has killed six people in Hong Kong and injured 35 in the past 13 years.
He said: 'Lightning can kill. In a modern society where electricity plays an important role, lightning can mess up operations.
'If lightning disrupts electricity supplies, it will cause a major impact on computer systems of the likes of banks and their ATM networks, or even the Jockey Club when people are placing bets. They may miss a lot of data.'
