After the heaviest rainfall since 1884, flash floods in Hong Kong
On Friday, record-breaking rainfall immobilized most of Hong Kong. With flash floods swallowing metro stations and trapping traffic on the roadways. Schools were close and the public was warn to seek safe shelter as the authorities suspend classes.
Residents could seen in pictures and videos trudging through murky brown floodwaters as heavy rain continue to saturate the 7.5 million-person city. Streets in certain low-lying regions were turn into raging torrents, forcing authorities to rescue drivers trap in their cars.
Hong Kong
The Hong Kong Observatory recorded more than 158 millimeters (6.2 inches) of rain between 11 p.m. and midnight on Thursday. The greatest hourly rainfall since records began in 1884, according to a statement from the government.
Almost 500 mm (19.7 inches) of rain fell in some areas of the city in a single day. According to the online meteorological resource OGimet.
The severe weather came only days after Hong Kong. Aas batter by its strongest typhoon in five years, shocking many locals.
Although Typhoon Saola, formerly a super typhoon, was downgrad to a Category 2 storm as it approach Hong Kong last weekend. It still had enough strength to shut down the city and cancel hundreds of flights. According to the authorities, the typhoon cause 86 injuries.
The financial center’s transportation and business were severely affect by the rain on Friday. The stock exchange cancel morning trading, and all schools were shutter. Authorities urged companies to permit non-essential workers to stay at home or find safe shelter on Friday, citing hazardous travel conditions.
Professor Stuart Hargreaves, a native of Hong Kong, was compelled to spend the night in his vehicle after becoming lost while returning home late on Thursday. He claimed that the inundated roads were “impassable,” and that at one point, “water was coming over the hood of the car and I thought it was going to flood the engine.”
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