Downpours pound parts of Hong Kong as first black rainstorm signal of year issued

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. New users who download our updated app get a seven-day free trial. Torrential downpours pounded parts of Hong Kong on Tuesday and triggered the first black rainstorm warning of the year, with roads flooded and some ferry services temporarily suspended. The highest-level black signal remained in force for nearly two hours after being issued by the Hong Kong Observatory at 9.10am. Eastern and Southern districts bore the brunt of the deluge, prompting the forecaster to warn of landslides and call on residents to stay away from slopes. A temporary waterfall formed in Shau Kei Wan when rainwater poured down a slope on Yiu Hing Road, the site of a large landslide in 2023. Authorities said they had inspected the slope after the rainstorm and found no significant anomalies. The Drainage Services Department said five cases of flooding had been recorded as of 11.30am and all were handled within one to two hours. It said that it had deployed more than 120 emergency response teams to inspect about 240 locations citywide and clear blockages in drains. In Chai Wan, vehicles in a Link Reit-managed underground car park at Wan Tsui Estate were partially submerged, with the site having flooded during extreme weather in the past. An estate resident, surnamed Ng, said his vehicle was not damaged when he inspected it at around 12.30pm. But Ng, in his eighties, said he was annoyed that the car park had filled with water even though the management office had installed a flood barrier. A check by the Post found a gap between the barrier and the ground. Ng, who pays HK$3,000 (US$382) a month for his parking spot, said: “How can you stop the water with such a gate? What they [Link] do is totally insufficient.” Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung said his bureau had activated the Emergency Monitoring and Support Centre and collaborated with various departments and the Observatory to closely monitor the situation while ensuring public safety. The Observatory said that showers associated with a broad trough of low pressure were affecting the coast of Guangdong. It said the weather would remain unsettled with occasional showers and thunderstorms in the following couple of days. Observatory senior scientific officer Choy Chun-wing said at about 9.30am on Tuesday that heavy rain was mainly concentrated in urban areas, including Kowloon, Hong Kong Island, the eastern New Territories, and some areas in southern Hong Kong. “In the past two hours, more than 100mm of rainfall was recorded in the eastern part of Hong Kong Island and the eastern New Territories, while in the past hour, torrential rain of 100mm per hour was recorded on Lamma Island,” Choy said. Choy also urged the public to be on high alert and take appropriate precautions. The black signal was downgraded to the red rainstorm warning at 11.05am, and then to amber at 11.45am, with the alert cancelled at 2.15pm. But some residents accused the forecaster of not being prepared, arguing that the black warning should have been raised earlier to reduce weather-related disruptions. The Observatory said: “The development of rainstorms is random, and with the current level of technology, there are certain limitations in predicting the location and time of rainstorms in advance.” The black rainstorm warning led the Education Bureau to cancel all afternoon classes, while morning and whole-day ones continued until the end of school hours. Railway operator the MTR Corporation said it had temporarily closed exits A2 of Sham Shui Po station, A1 of Choi Hung station and B3 of Wong Tai Sin station, as part of its precautionary measures. At Wong Tai Sin station, Alice Lam, a retiree in her seventies, was carrying a cart full of wet swimming suits after returning from a swim session in Kwun Tong. She usually relied on an escalator linked to the closed exit but had to ask for a helping hand this time. “Other exits only have staircases. It is really inconvenient for us senior residents when we carry heavy objects,” she said. The B3 exit of Wong Tai Sin station reopened at around 11.20am, soon after the Observatory lowered the warning signal to red. The nearby Temple Mall shopping centre shut off access to its basement and installed a barrier, with most merchants closed except for a few eateries. A mall employee said the property had introduced such measures whenever a black rainstorm signal was in place, following flooding during torrential rain in 2023. Stanley Beach Road, Stanley Mound Road and Stanley Village Road were temporarily closed to traffic due to flooding. Services run by Coral Sea Ferry Company from Kwun Tong to Sai Wan Ho, Sai Wan Ho to Kwun Tong, Sam Ka Tsuen to Sai Wan Ho, and Sai Wan Ho to Sam Ka Tsuen were temporarily suspended, while the Aberdeen-Po Toi Island route operated by Tsui Wah Ferry Service was also halted. While heavy showers battered parts of Hong Kong, residents in the northwestern New Territories took to social media mocking what they called a “parallel universe”. “Black rainstorm? There is not even a single drop of rain in Tuen Mun,” one said. Hong Kong started to leave stock and futures markets open during severe rainstorms and typhoons in September last year, scrapping a 70-year-old practice of shutting down during serious weather events.

Downpours pound parts of Hong Kong as first black rainstorm signal of year issued

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Eastern and Southern districts bear brunt of the deluge, with highest-level black signal in force for almost two hours on Tuesday morning

Eastern and Southern districts bear brunt of the deluge, with highest-level black signal in force for almost two hours on Tuesday morning