15-year-old drowns near Tai Po village A 15-year-old girl was swept to her death yesterday in a swollen Tai Po river after visiting her boyfriend at his village home. The girl, surnamed Ng, was drowned as she left the village during a heavy downpour. Authorities were alerted at about 9.30am by a caller who saw the girl being carried away by floodwaters at Tai Hang Tsuen in Tai Po, an indigenous village across from Hong Lok Yuen. About 40 rescuers arrived on the scene within four minutes, according to the Fire Services Department. The Government Flying Service joined in after about an hour and helped expand the search to streams in Sheung Shui and near the border. At about 2pm, five hours after the alarm was raised, rescuers found the girl's body several hundred metres from where she was last seen. A village representative said recent river-improvement work could have increased water flow. It is understood the girl was crossing a bridge above a storm drain when a surge of water carried her away. In the afternoon, the girl's mother collapsed at the scene when she was identifying the body. Police were investigating reports that the girl's personal belongings had gone missing after her body was found, a police spokesman said. Police later said there were no suspicious circumstances. Yesterday's downpour, part of a record-breaking rainy season, also cut roads, caused landslides, and collapsed a concrete canopy. At least 59 cases of flooding were reported, and four suburban landslides. A 120-square-metre concrete canopy fell off a building in Tuen Mun's Kai Man Path but no one was injured. A voltage dip in CLP's system caused several lifts to malfunction. Access roads to Tai O, the Lantau fishing town that was hit hard by last month's typhoon, were closed again yesterday until 4pm. A Development Bureau spokesman said Tai O roads would remain cut if red or black rainstorm warnings or landslip warnings were issued, to ensure the public's safety until improvement works could be completed. No flooding was reported in Sheung Wan's Wing Lok Street, where floodwaters rose to waist level in May. Since early morning, more than 100mm of rain in the city was recorded, but 250mm hit some parts of the New Territories. The urban area recorded 50 to 60mm of rainfall. The Observatory said the rain, caused by an active southerly airstream, would persist through the weekend.