The Asian financial hub of Hong Kong and the nearby tech city of Shenzhen were deluged by the heaviest rain since records began 140 years ago, causing floods, landslides, and injuries. The unusually wet weather was triggered by typhoons that brought more disruption to southern China.
Videos showed cascades of water surging down steep hillsides in the former British colony, flooding waist-deep in narrow streets, and inundating malls, metro stations and tunnels. The extreme weather also brought chaos to Shenzhen, a metropolis of more than 17.7 million people, with business and transport links across the economically important Pearl River Delta severely hit.
The torrential rain was brought by Haikui, a typhoon that made landfall in the Chinese province of Fujian on Tuesday. Although it weakened to a tropical depression its slow-moving clouds have dumped huge volumes of precipitation on areas still soaked by rain from a super typhoon a week earlier.
Hong Kong issues highest rainstorm warning
Hong Kong’s weather bureau issued its highest “black” rainstorm warning, and said more than 200 mm (7.9 inches) of rain was recorded on Hong Kong’s main island, the Kowloon district and the northeastern part of the city’s New Territories from late on Thursday.
The city’s leader, John Lee, said he was very concerned about the severe flooding in most parts of the territory and had instructed all departments to respond with “all-out efforts”.
Hong Kong authorities shut schools on Friday and told workers to stay at home. The stock exchange did not open for morning trade and would remain shut in the afternoon if the “black” rainstorm warning remained in place at noon.
MTR Corp, which operates the city’s rail network, said at least one line was shut while others were operating with delays. One video clip showed metro workers wading waist-deep in a station. The city’s cross-harbour tunnel, one of main arteries connecting Hong Kong island to Kowloon, was inundated and a shopping mall in the Chai Wan district was half-submerged.
Some passenger and cargo clearance operations at two border points between Hong Kong and Shenzhen were suspended due to flooding. Macau ferry operators in Hong Kong said several sailings would be suspended to the gambling hub.
Shenzhen swamped by record-breaking rainfall
The China Meteorological Administration said heavy rain would fall until early Saturday on the central and southwestern areas of Guangdong province. All schools, some subway stations and offices in the Guangdong city of Shenzhen were shut on Friday.
Residents holding onto safety lines stepped gingerly through knee-deep water in Shenzhen, videos from state media showed. Rescuers cordoned off overflowing manholes, carried a child from a stranded vehicle and guided motorcyclists through the murky flows.
A rainfall log showed 465.5 mm (1.5 ft) of rain fell in Shenzhen over a 12-hour period, the highest since records began in 1952.
According to local media reports, at least 83 people were injured by floods and landslides in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, three of them seriously. No deaths have been reported so far.
The heavy rain also affected other parts of southern China, including Guangxi, Hunan and Jiangxi provinces, where thousands of people were evacuated and crops were damaged.