Parts of Hong Kong still face threat of flash floods after two days of heavy rain
Department says drainage capacity of river in Tai Po inadequate to cope with amount of water from rainstorms
An area in Hong Kong’s New Territories still faces the threat of flash floods after the Drainage Services Department admitted that a nearby river lacked adequate drainage capacity.
The admission followed two days of heavy rain in the city, which prompted authorities to issue the amber rainstorm warning signal three times within a day. An amber alert means rainfall exceeds “30mm in an hour” and is “likely to continue”.
The rain severely hit Tai Po – located in the east of Hong Kong – flooding areas such as the Pat Sin Leng mountain range to villages in Tai Mei Tuk, Ting Kok and Shan Liu along Ting Kok Road.
Ho Yiu-kwong of the Drainage Services Department said the drainage capacity of a river near Ting Kok village was assessed to be “a bit inadequate”.
“We saw debris and tree branches blocking the upper stream of the river, which further worsened the drainage capacity,” Ho, the department’s chief engineer of land drainage, told an RTHK radio show on Wednesday morning.
He said that the department had been clearing debris in the river since March. A current review on the drainage plan for Tai Po district would be completed by early next year.