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Clifford Lo

A record-breaking rainstorm brought chaos to southern Hong Kong yesterday, causing widespread flooding and dozens of landslides, one of which killed two occupants of a hut in Tuen Mun as they slept.
Torrential rain lashed the city for nearly eight hours from early morning. Hong Kong Island and Lantau were worst hit, with scores of shops flooded and roads blocked, causing big traffic jams. The North Lantau Highway between the city and the airport was blocked for the first time since it opened in 1997.
More than 400 flights were delayed and 14 cancelled.
In Tuen Mun, a 30-metre section of retaining wall, weighing 20 tonnes, collapsed onto a hut at Cafeteria Old Beach in Castle Peak Road.
'Rocks and mud washed down and filled the hut. A couple from the mainland were asleep at the time and they were  buried alive,' a police officer said.
Police named the couple as a 32-year-old man surnamed Tse and a 30-year-old woman surnamed Lo.
The woman's twin sister, Lo Mo-tai, her husband Tse Yuk-wah, 31, and their two daughters, aged two and six, were evacuated from an adjacent hut.
Two cranes were called in to lift the collapsed sections of wall, and firemen tunnelled through the debris to reach the pair. They were finally brought out  after 12 hours  and declared dead at the scene.
Fire department district commander Tam Yiu-kei said the weight of the  slab that fell on the hut, as well as the threat of further landslides, had impeded rescue efforts.
'The heavy rainfall has loosened the mud. There's a chance of further landslides. It makes the operation more difficult,' Mr Tam said.
The Observatory issued the amber rainstorm warning at 5.15am. The black rainstorm warning was hoisted at 6.40am and only lowered at 11am.
More than 400mm of rain fell on parts of Lantau and more than 300mm on parts of Hong Kong Island. In Tsim Sha Tsui, the 124-year record for rainfall per hour was smashed.
The Drainage Services Department said the combination of extraordinary rainfall and a high tide had caused serious flooding.
The worst flooding was on the North Lantau Highway at Tung Chung, near the airport, and in Sheung Wan and Wan Chai.
At Tung Chung, a torrent of mud 1.5 metres deep engulfed vehicles  at about 8.30am. At least 10 broke down.
The road was shut for more than eight hours, before emergency services managed to reopen one carriageway. It reopened fully early today. The MTR stepped up Airport Express and Tung Chung line services.
Deputy Director of Highways  Cheung Hing-wan said the flood at Tung Chung was caused when sand and stones washed down the hillside and blocked a drain.
The water was waist-deep in low-lying Wing Lok Street, Sheung Wan - a flooding black spot. Water cascaded into dried-seafood shops.
Firemen rescued people trapped aboard minibuses that broke down in 70cm deep water  in Wan Chai, and  carried people  through a river of water coursing down Tai Hang Road.
In Pok Fu Lam village, 38 people were evacuated when their homes flooded. Boys aged 11 and 15 and a 43-year-old woman needed hospital treatment for scratches and bruising after rocks and mud washed into their house.
A newspaper vendor in Wong Chuk Hang Road, Aberdeen, said the area suddenly flooded at 6.30am. 'The water came very fast. It  was flooded within five minutes. There was thigh-deep water.'
On Hill Road in Western, a flight of steps turned into a waterfall as rain cascaded down it. A tram was derailed when sand and gravel was washed onto the tracks in Des Voeux Road West. No one was injured.
Schools suspended classes and central allocation centres for primary school places for the next school year were shut. Courts, tribunals and marriage registries also suspended operations for all or part of the day.
Additional reporting by Associated Press
The BIG storm
539 cases of flooding by 7pm
89 landslides by 9pm
412 flights delayed by 8:30pm, and 14 cancelled
300mm The average rainfall across the city between midnight and midday
145.5mm of rain between 8am and 9am in Tsim Sha Tsui, the most in an hour since records began in 1884
3,657 lightning strikes between 7am and 8am
SOURCE: HK OBSERVATORY



Record downpour kills two and brings chaos to swathe of city