Hong Kong to learn from Ragasa, boost flood mitigation measures: minister
Development minister Bernadette Linn also says Kau Yi Chau reclamation project shelved to prevent ‘immense strain’ on authorities, market
Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho made the pledge on Saturday, three days after Ragasa inundated low-lying and coastal areas, with restaurants along a Tseung Kwan O promenade and the Fullerton Ocean Park Hotel in Aberdeen among those hit by flooding.
“Based on this typhoon, departments will review whether it has missed out locations that require enhancement and whether the planned facilities, retaining walls or flood barriers are tall enough and need to be heightened,” she told a radio show. “We will work on it.”
Linn stressed that the government had taken reference from international data and the city’s past experiences to formulate coastal management strategies and flood-mitigation designs along the coastline.
She noted that the city’s promenades had been built with a width of 20 to 30 metres (65.6 to 98.4 feet) to prevent buildings from flooding.
Boulders had also been placed alongside sea walls, while wave walls at least one metre tall and water barriers had been put in place outside buildings, she added.