Hong Kong issued its first red rain warning of the year on Saturday as rains caused flooding in parts of the territory, closing roads and hampering public transport.
Article content
(Bloomberg) — Hong Kong issued its first red rain warning of the year on Saturday, as rains caused flooding in parts of the territory, closing roads and hampering public transportation.
The Hong Kong Observatory triggered the red signal at around 9 a.m. local time, meaning more than 50 millimeters of rain had fallen and more was expected across the city. Red is the second highest storm risk level. The agency also issued landslide and thunderstorm warnings and advised the public to “remain on high alert.”
Advertising 2
Article content
Article content
According to the South China Morning Post, hundreds of vehicles were inundated in a flooded public parking lot in the New Territories area of Lohas Park, while roads were closed and bus services suspended in parts of the nearby Tseung Kwan O area. The newspaper reported that about 140 millimeters of rain fell in Saikung district, the easternmost part of the New Territories, between 7:40 a.m. and about 9 a.m. Saturday.
“Thundershowers continue to develop over the area under the influence of an upper air disturbance,” the observatory said in a statement. “Heavy rainfall is expected to continue to affect some areas in the eastern part of the Territory.”
All school classes have been suspended and hospital care at some clinics in Saikung district has been limited, officials said.
According to Xinhua News Agency, several parts of southern China, including Guangdong, are being hit by heavy rains. According to the report, the highest rainfall warning was issued in three places in Zhuhai around 1 p.m. local time on Saturday after the city’s weather bureau recorded more than 250 millimeters of rainfall. Residents were advised to stay indoors as some road sections in the city were flooded, Xinhua quoted the transport agency as saying.
Top stories
Article content
Advertising 3
Article content
The unusual conditions were caused by an El Niño climate pattern, the occasional warming of the eastern equatorial Pacific that has had a devastating impact on weather around the world since June. Another summer of record-breaking high temperatures and other extreme weather events in the Northern Hemisphere is likely, said Shun Chi-ming, who served as director of the Hong Kong Observatory between 2011 and 2020 and is now an associate professor in the University of Science’s Department of Environment and Sustainability and Technology Hong Kong.
“Global ocean sea surface temperatures have been exceptionally high in recent months, and as warm oceans provide the energy source for storms, there is a chance that they will also become stronger,” Chi-ming said.
Read more: Dubai floods were up to 40% more intense due to climate change
Earlier this week, at least 48 people died after flooding caused a highway to collapse in Meizhou, a city in China’s Guangdong province. Thirty people were injured and 23 vehicles were found in a pit after the road collapsed, China Central Television reported.
Advertising 4
Article content
Bad weather also disrupted sporting events and airline flights in Singapore on Saturday as torrential rain triggered flash flood warnings, CNA reported. Some flights at Changi Airport were delayed because of the downpour, the news agency said, while the second round of the LIV golf tournament in Sentosa, featuring major winners Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka, was due to start later in the day.
In Indonesia, at least 14 people have died as a result of floods and landslides in South Sulawesi, according to a statement from the country’s disaster management agency on Saturday. More than 1,300 families were affected, houses were destroyed and roads and bridges were damaged.
Other areas of Southeast Asia suffered from a severe lack of rain and battled record-breaking temperatures. Heat waves in areas from Thailand to India have been exacerbated by the ongoing El Niño, although some climate centers predicted the pattern could weaken in the second half of the year, Chi-ming said.
Earlier this week, several counties in Thailand and Vietnam reported their hottest April on record, according to national weather authorities.
Advertising 5
Article content
“Given the lack of rain and the possibility of further heat waves in many areas of the country, there is a high risk of prolonged drought, water shortages and possibly a very high risk of fire in some areas,” said a statement from Vietnam’s weather center, the National Center for Hydrometeorological Forecasting .
Warnings of a possible power disruption were issued in the Philippines earlier this week as temperatures in the capital Manila hit a record 38.8°C (101.8°F).
Read more: Heat in Southeast Asia breaks records and encourages gas purchases
– With support from Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen and Faris Mokhtar.
(Adds details of other weather events in the region, scientist’s comment from sixth paragraph.)
Article content