6 people in Hong Kong injured by falling barrier during heavy rainstorm; poor conditions likely to block view of rare solar eclipse, forecaster says
- Four women, two men suffer minor injuries from falling wooden panels in Sha Tin, police say
- Hong Kong Observatory says residents will struggle to see solar eclipse on Thursday because of inclement weather
Six people were injured when wooden panels erected along a footbridge in northern Hong Kong toppled over during a heavy rainstorm on Wednesday, while the city’s forecaster said the poor conditions were likely to prevent residents from witnessing a rare solar eclipse on Thursday.
The bad weather also blew more than 10 solar panels, along with at least three metal frames, off the roof of an industrial building in Tuen Mun, causing them to crash into two cars driving along a road below. Two drivers escaped unscathed in the incident, which was caught on dashcam video later posted online.
The Hong Kong Observatory issued an amber rainstorm warning at 10.15am, about 30 minutes after a thunderstorm alert took effect.
Four women and two men suffered minor injuries when the row of large wooden panels fell over on the footbridge above Sha Tin Centre Street at 11.12am.
The row of panels, which was 10 metres long and two metres high (33 feet long and 7 feet high), was being used to fence off a section of the elevated walkway.
Four of the injured were taken to Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin, while the remaining two did not require medical treatment, a police spokesman said, adding traffic was unaffected.
Earlier in Tuen Mun, solar panels fell from the building onto Tsing Wun Road, hitting two vehicles at 10.39am. One of the vehicles was a Toyota car.
Dashcam footage recorded by one of the drivers showed the panels falling from the building and smashing the vehicle’s windscreen and hitting the bonnet. No injuries were reported.
A source familiar with the case said an initial investigation suggested more than 10 solar panels and three metal structures had tumbled down the roof of Tung Ming Industrial Building. Each panel measured one metre by three metres.
He said the falling objects had shattered the windscreen and bonnet of one of the cars and dented the boot of the other vehicle.
He said detectives from the Tuen Mun criminal investigation unit were looking into the case. So far, no arrests have been made.
Police classified the case as “object fell from height” .
Under the Summary Offences Ordinance, dropping an object from a building and endangering or injuring a person is punishable by up to six months in jail and a HK$10,000 (US$1,274) fine.
The Observatory on Wednesday morning said that intense gusts of wind were hitting the city and urged residents to seek shelter immediately. Winds of about 90km/h (56mph) were recorded at Tai O at around 10.35am.
Violent gusts of about 100km/h were also recorded at the Star Ferry pier in Tsim Sha Tsui at around 11.05am. The amber warning was cancelled at 12.15pm.
The weather forecaster said residents would struggle to observe Thursday’s rare partial solar eclipse because of the cloudy weather.
Jennifer Yip Ling, a scientific officer at the Observatory, cited the latest forecast, saying: “The possibility of being able to see the partial eclipse in Hong Kong is not very high.”
The partial solar eclipse is expected to start at 12.34pm and end at 1.16pm. If the weather clears up, residents should be able to see the moon partially blocking the sun.
The Observatory advised residents against watching the eclipse directly, as it could damage their eyes.
The forecaster said a low-pressure trough would continue to affect Guangdong province and Hong Kong in the coming days, bringing cloudy weather, showers and occasional squally thunderstorms to the region.
“Showers will ease off and the weather will improve slightly over the coast of Guangdong during the weekend and early next week. A surge of the northeast monsoon is expected to affect the coast of Guangdong midweek next week,” it said.
Amber is the third-highest alert level under the Observatory’s rainstorm warning system, with black considered the highest, followed by red.
Additional reporting by Oscar Liu and Harvey Kong
