LAST night's deadly avalanche of mud and rocks in Western which claimed three lives, including a young girl and her father, was the single worst storm-related incident in Hong Kong for more than 22 years.
It came a day after a woman was killed when her husband's taxi hit a huge pool of water in Castle Peak Road - the result of torrential rains which dumped 297 millimetres of water on the territory in 24 hours.
The latest disaster eclipsed the mudslide that engulfed Block 44 of Baguio Villas on May 8, 1992. In that incident, 150 tonnes of rock and dirt killed a seven-year-old boy and a government engineer, Lau Mei-hing, 38.
Also on that occasion, 1,500 people were evacuated from 10 blocks at the private residential development and given other accommodation including hotels in Wan Chai.
Three other people were killed that day when heavy floods swamped Hong Kong, after violent storms and the heaviest rainfall in one hour - 109.9 mm - since June 12, 1966.
Among the dead was a 12-year-old boy who was swept away while playing at a waterfall which turned into a raging deluge in Bowen Road.
The other two fatalities were a 49-year-old motorist whose car was crushed by tonnes of mud, rocks and fallen trees in Kennedy Road at 8.20 am and a 29-year-old man who was struck by lightning in Sai Kung.