HK to see occasional showers, thunderstorms until Sat
The Drainge Services Department confirmed six flooding reports between Wednesday night and Friday morning. File photo: RTHK
Hong Kong will continue to face occasional showers and squally thunderstorms on Friday and Saturday, according to the observatory.
The weather agency said it recorded more than 100 millimetres of rainfall over many places in the SAR on Thursday, with repeated amber and red rainstorm warnings during the day. Rainfall exceeded 140 millimetres in some areas.
Shum Chi-tai, an acting senior scientific officer at the observatory, said the remnant of tropical storm Danas is not the only factor causing the unstable weather.
"The adverse weather is not related solely to the remnants of Danas, but also the southwest monsoon. From what we see, we expect that occasional showers and squally thunderstorms will continue, and there will be some more showers tomorrow," he said on an RTHK programme on Friday.
"Looking ahead, there will be an anticyclone aloft that will gradually affect Hong Kong in the coming days. Therefore, by early next week, the showers will let up and conditions will improve."
The Drainage Services Department confirmed six flooding reports between Wednesday night and 8am on Friday, with all of them coming from the New Territories.
Chan Hak-keung, the department's acting assistant director of operations and maintenance, said there was a flood on the San Tin Highway, two on San Tin Tsuen Road, and one each in Tai Wo Village in Pat Heung and Long Tin Road in Yuen Long.
"These six locations are not flooding black spots. What happened was that mud and silt, as well as tree leaves and branches were washed into drainage inlets and roadside gullies and caused blockages. After removal works were completed, the drains were up and running again within an hour or two," he told the same radio show.
Chan said more than 100 emergency response teams were dispatched to handle floods and clear blocked drains.
He added that before downpours on Wednesday, his department carried out inspections and clearance work at 240 spots across the city that are prone to flooding.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RTHK
2 days ago
- RTHK
'Mature' mechanism in place for severe weather: CS
'Mature' mechanism in place for severe weather: CS Chief Secretary Eric Chan says no one could have predicted Tuesday's heavy rain would last so long. File photo: Reuters Hong Kong has a "mature" mechanism that will be activated automatically to respond to inclement weather despite challenges in predicting rainfall, Chief Secretary Eric Chan said on Saturday. Torrential rain pounded the city in recent weeks, prompting the Hong Kong Observatory to issue four black rainstorm warnings within a space of eight days. The fourth signal, issued on Tuesday, was up for more than 11 hours. "I can honestly say that no one could have predicted the downpours would last this long, nor could anyone have predicted the rain's intensity," Chan told a Commercial Radio programme. Chan also defended the government's decision not to hold a meeting of an inter-departmental committee that he chaired – which last convened to make preparations in response to Tropical Cyclone Danas in July. The Emergency Monitoring and Support Centre, he said, will be up and running whenever a black rainstorm alert or a No 8 typhoon signal is in force. "While we might not be able to predict rainfall sometimes, we have a response mechanism that can be up and running immediately," Chan said. "This time proved that the existing mechanism was operating smoothly. "I hope residents understand that not holding a meeting of the steering committee does not mean there was less protection." The steering committee on handling extreme weather will meet and make advanced preparations when extreme weather conditions are expected to have a widespread and severe impact on the city, Chan added.
HKFP
3 days ago
- HKFP
Hong Kong Observatory looks to expand use of AI forecasting models for extreme weather prediction
The Hong Kong Observatory is considering expanding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) forecasting models to predict extreme weather conditions, a meteorologist has said, after the models predicted Tuesday's torrential rain. The Observatory's acting senior scientific officer He Yuheng said on Friday that the AI models predicted a week in advance the movement of a westward rainband that affected the coast of Guangdong province last weekend and triggered a black rainstorm warning on Tuesday. Speaking on RTHK on Friday, He said that rainfall and rain distribution forecasts made with AI prediction tools might not be fully accurate but would still help the Observatory make predictions earlier. The meteorologist's remarks come after Hong Kong recorded 358.8 millimetres of rainfall at its Tsim Sha Tsui headquarters at 5pm on Tuesday, marking the highest daily rainfall in August since records began in 1884. The Tuesday rainstorm marked the fourth time the black rainstorm signal, the city's highest rain warning, was hoisted this year – all in a week. The Hong Kong Observatory raised the black rainstorm signal twice within six hours earlier this week: first at 11.45pm on Monday, before lowering it to the red rainstorm warning at 2.10am on Tuesday, then again, more than three hours later, at 5:50am. The second black rainstorm signal lasted more than 11 hours, causing widespread flooding across the city. The Observatory began using AI models on a trial basis in mid-2023, He said. Now, AI models are just as capable, if not more so, than conventional methods for predicting large-scale meteorological patterns, including the area or intensity of an anticyclone aloft or subtropical ridge, he said. The Observatory's use of AI is still at a 'preliminary stage,' but AI models 'have reached – or even slightly surpassed – the level of conventional methods,' the meteorologist said. He also said that AI models boasted a smaller margin of error between 300 to 500 kilometres, when producing five-day forecasts of tropical cyclone paths, compared with the 500 to 800 kilometres for traditional models. Predicting the intensity of typhoons, however, was a weak point of AI models, He said. Meanwhile, a major road in the New Territories damaged by a landslide triggered by Tuesday's downpour has been partially reopened. The Highways Department announced on Thursday evening that a single lane of Bride's Pool Road was back in service for two-way traffic.
RTHK
3 days ago
- RTHK
AI 'predicts weather better than conventional ways'
AI 'predicts weather better than conventional ways' He Yuheng says some AI weather predictions are as good as - if not better than - conventional methods. Photo: RTHK The Hong Kong Observatory said on Friday that weather predictions carried out using artificial intelligence have surpassed conventional methods, and helped it to carry out early forecasts. Speaking on an RTHK radio programme, acting senior scientific officer He Yuheng said a week prior to the downpours that lashed the SAR on Tuesday, some AI models had already forecast that there would be an east-to-west rainband affecting Guangdong. Even though rainfall distributions predicted by AI might not be too accurate, He said, they have allowed the observatory to conduct predictions earlier to a certain extent and inform the public sooner about unstable weather conditions. He said that when the observatory began using AI in mid-2023, the models only offered limited predictions for meteorological elements such as temperatures and humidity levels. Now it can directly predict rainfall without analysing other parameters. AI models can even better predict the weather than conventional methods, he said. "At least for now, if we talk about AI models' performance on the medium-range weather forecasts of large-scale meteorological patterns for the next 10 days, they have reached – or even slightly exceeded – the level of conventional methods," He said. "For example, on the location and change in intensity for an anticyclone aloft and subtropical ridge of high pressure, AI is better." However, He said AI models are unable to forecast the intensity of strong typhoons for now, while other AI-based predictions must be verified manually. As for the coming days, He said an area of low pressure over the northeastern part of the South China Sea could bring showers to the SAR early next week. The observatory expects another area of low pressure that has developed into a tropical cyclone north of Guam to move westward towards Taiwan.
