‘Soaking wet’: Hong Kong parents furious after last-minute rain warning change

‘I kept an eye on the weather all night, only for them to switch to an amber rainstorm warning at the last minute – you’ve got to be kidding me,’ one parent says

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Videos and pictures circulating online show a double-decker ploughing through severe flooding. Photo: Threads/t_tsuntsun

Hong Kong emergency crews worked around the clock with robotic “water-pumping dragons” to clear widespread flooding. Photo: Handout

Published: 9:23am, 21 May 2026Updated: 6:06pm, 21 May 2026

Hundreds of parents have criticised Hong Kong’s weather forecaster after children were required to attend school during heavy downpours, with many complaining of flooded streets and difficult commutes even after the year’s first red rainstorm warning was downgraded.

The Observatory issued the red rainstorm signal at 2.40am on Thursday as intense rainbands battered the city, followed by a flooding alert for the northern New Territories.

The middle-tier warning, which is issued when rainfall exceeding 50mm (two inches) per hour has fallen or is expected, was downgraded to an amber alert at 5.15am. It was cancelled at 9.30am.

According to Education Bureau guidelines, if the red or black rainstorm warning is issued between 5.30am and 6am, morning and whole-day schools must suspend classes for the entire day. However, classes should proceed when the amber alert is in force.

More than 700 users took to the Observatory’s Facebook page to criticise its decision, as heavy downpours and flooding wreaked havoc in the northern New Territories.

“I kept an eye on the weather all night, only for them to switch to an amber rainstorm warning at the last minute – you’ve got to be kidding me,” one user said.