Hong Kong floods: Post editor shares what it’s like being caught on the road in worst downpour in decades to hit city
- Hong Kong desk editor Denise Tsang was trapped in traffic for 2½ hours before making a detour and spending sleepless night at hotel
- She, like many others, did not expect weather to deteriorate so fast following first amber rainstorm warning
South China Morning Post news editor Denise Tsang was among commuters caught in citywide jams overnight on Thursday as Hong Kong succumbed to floods after record rainfall turned roads into mini rivers. She shares details of the chaos she encountered.
It would normally take 30 minutes to drive home from Tsim Sha Tsui to Tai Po in the New Territories on a non-eventful evening, but little did I know when I set off on Thursday night that I would be stuck on the road for 2½ hours and still fail to make it home by daybreak.
By the time I left the dinner at 10pm as my husband drove by to pick me up, the rain warning had been upgraded to a red alert, the second on a three-level tier.
The rain worsened as we drove along Lion Rock Tunnel from Kowloon through Sha Tin, towards Tai Po. Visibility was very low and our windscreen wipers were not clearing fast enough the veil of water besieging the glass. I feared that if I pushed the wipers to maximum speed, they would snap off, fuelling my rising anxiety.