Hong Kong fights flooding after typhoon brings heavy rainfall

HONG KONG -- All departments of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government have been instructed to respond with all-out flood control efforts after Typhoon Haikui brought record rainfall on Thursday night.

The Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) said from Thursday night more than 70 mm of rainfall were recorded in most parts of Hong Kong and even over 200 mm were recorded in Kowloon, the northeastern part of the New Territories and Hong Kong Island. The Observatory Headquarters recorded hourly rainfall of 158.1 mm between 11 pm local time (1500 GMT) and midnight, which was the highest record since 1884.

The Emergency Monitoring and Support Center under the Security Bureau was activated at 11:05 p.m. on Thursday. The disciplined services are handling emergency requests. A number of HKSAR government departments, including the Drainage Services Department (DSD), the Highways Department (HyD), the Home Affairs Department (HAD) and relevant departments are taking full response actions and going to the affected regions to deal with various scenarios.

After the Black Rainstorm Warning Signal was issued at 11:05 pm on Thursday, the HAD swiftly activated its Emergency Coordination Center at the same time, and opened temporary shelters for people in need of temporary accommodation.

The first temporary shelter started operation at 11:35 pm on Thursday. As of 1:00 am Friday, a total of 12 temporary shelters have been put into operation.

In response to water discharge from Shenzhen Reservoir at midnight, the North District Office specially arranged vehicles before midnight to pick up villagers from six villages that may be affected by flooding to temporary shelters.

A spokesman for the HKSAR government urged again members of the public to stay indoor and stay away from low-lying areas to safeguard personal safety during adverse weather.