Hong Kong paralyzed by flash flooding after heaviest rainfall since 1884
Record-breaking rainfall paralyzed much of Hong Kong on Friday, with flash flooding submerging metro stations and trapping drivers on roads, as authorities suspended schools and urged the public to seek safe shelter.
Photos and videos showed residents wading through murky brown floodwaters as heavy rain continued to inundate the densely populated city of 7.5 million. In some low-lying areas, streets were transformed into surging torrents, with authorities forced to rescue motorists stuck in their vehicles.
The deluge began late Thursday night, with the Hong Kong Observatory recording more than 158 millimeters (6.2 inches) in rain between 11 p.m. and midnight, the highest hourly rainfall since records began in 1884, the government said in a news release.
Some parts of city saw almost 500 mm (19.7 inches) of rainfall in 24 hours, according to online weather data site OGimet.
Stuart Hargreaves, a Hong Kong resident and professor, was forced to spend the night in his car after being stranded while driving home late Thursday. The flooded roads were “impassable,” he said; at one point, “water was coming over the hood of the car and I thought it was going to flood the engine.”
Several other cars had similarly flooded and were “floating” nearby, he said. He managed to park in a safe place, but there was no way out – leaving him stuck until daybreak. When he managed to drive home nine hours later, the road was “full of rocks from landslides, debris from trees, abandoned cars and so on,” he said. <hr/>
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