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 fall. 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 the densely populated city of 7.5 million saw almost 500 mm (19.7 inches) of rainfall in 24 hours, according to online weather data site OGimet.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
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.
Friday’s deluge caused widespread transport and business disruptions across the financial hub, with the stock market canceling morning trading, and all schools closed for the day.
On Friday, authorities appealed to businesses to allow non-essential employees to stay at home or seek safe shelter, citing unsafe travel conditions.
The “extreme” conditions, including “widespread flooding, traffic disruption and a high risk for landslide,” are expected to continue until at least 6 p.m. on Friday, the government said.
The city’s Mass Transit Railway announced it would suspend services on one of its lines after a station in the Wong Tai Sin district was flooded, with footage shared widely online showing floodwater gushing down the stairs.
The government also warned “there may be a risk of flooding” in its northern New Territories district, which is adjacent to the Chinese mainland, after the neighboring city of Shenzhen said it would release water from a reservoir.
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