The highest measurement of rainfall in an hour was reported since records began in 1884, with 158.1mm (6.2 inches) of rain falling at the Observatory headquarters between 11pm and midnight on Thursday. The black rainstorm alert was issued on Thursday night, marking the first such warning since October 2021.
In eastern Kowloon, Lung Cheung Road near Temple Mall in Wong Tai Sin was severely flooded. An online clip showed a car being carried backwards by the flood for at least 10 metres (32 feet).
A man believed to be the driver was outside the vehicle trying to save it. He held onto the car with one hand and a lamp post with the other, slightly slowing down the vehicle’s movement.
The driver of another car chose to sit on the roof, sheltered by an umbrella, while seeking safety above the floodwaters.
In another clip, a woman holding an umbrella struggled to stop herself from being swept away by muddy water roaring down a road. She was carried along by the flood for about 50 metres.
At Wong Tai Sin [subway] station, rainwater flooded a platform.
“The entire escalator is full of water … We are like sailing in a vessel,” said a woman on board a train at the station in a social media post, uploading a video clip showing the river-like platform.
“Even Wong Tai Sin can’t save you,” she joked, referring to the temple god in the district.
don’t cross into the cross harbour tunnel if it’s storming like this, don’t try to save your car, don’t drive in flooded waters (you don’t know the status of the road)!
And then the deflecting begins.
“Climate is always changing. We’ll just have to adapt. And do you have any ideas how much it costs to change those emissions?”
“It’s changing a bit fast and giving us flooding, heat waves and storms right now. How about you adapting our infrastructure to cope with that?”
“Do you have any idea how much it costs to adapt? Bootstraps! Freedom! Personal responsibility!”