Wrapup 1: Hong Kong, Shenzhen deluged by heaviest rain on record, 83 hurt

MTR

08/09/2023 05:55

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      Hong Kong, South China hit by residual rain from Typhoon
Haikui
    

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      Hong Kong's schools closed, transport disrupted
    

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      City stock market does not open on Friday morning
    

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      Rain expected in southern China over next few days
    

  
    By Tyrone Siu and Farah Master
       HONG KONG, Sept 8 (Reuters) - The Asian financial hub of
Hong Kong was drenched on Friday by the heaviest rain since
records began 140 years ago, with 83 people hurt, three
seriously, as unusually wet weather caused by typhoons 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 the nearby
Chinese city of Shenzhen, a tech hub 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'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  0066.HK , 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. 
    
    GUANGDONG SWAMPED
    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 the metropolis of 17.7 million people, 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. 
    Daily rainfall in the city in the Pearl River Delta linking
Hong Kong to China's mainland was expected to exceed 500 mm,
Shenzhen media said.
    Videos showed both the exit and entry areas of the Shenzhen
railway station were flooded, with trains connecting the city
and the provincial capital of Guangzhou suspended. About 100
people were stranded at the station.
    Schools in 10 districts of Guangzhou were suspended for the
day or had to open late, while the city of Zhuhai near Macau
warned of waterlogging and landslides.
    The industrial city of Dongguan north of Shenzhen reported
its heaviest rain in 15 years.   
    Guangdong and the neighbouring Guangxi region were expected
to have heavy rain for the next three days.

 (Reporting by Tyrone Siu and Farah Master in Hong Kong and Liz
Lee, Albee Zhang and Ryan Woo in Beijing; Editing by Jamie Freed
and Michael Perry)
 ((farah.master@thomsonreuters.com; +852 3462 7709;))