Chai Wan flooded amid torrential rain
Water was seen bursting out of a manhole near a roundabout at Chai Wan Road. Photo: RTHK
Chai Wan was hit by torrential downpours and floods as heavy rain pounded the city on Tuesday, with the observatory issuing the first Black Rainstorm Warning Signal of the year.
Water was seen bursting out of a manhole near a roundabout at Chai Wan Road. The Drainage Services Department recorded water levels of up to 370 millimetres nearby.
A domestic worker, Rose, told RTHK she struggled to get a taxi to take two children to a nearby church school.
"This morning, we were about to take a taxi to the other side, but the taxi driver said he could not take us that way because it was flooded. So we had to walk here to the MTR station," she said.
"We took a taxi but we took so long to get a taxi... I think the taxi took another way to avoid the flood."
Another Chai Wan resident, surnamed Pang, said she hadn't seen such severe flooding at the roundabout since two years ago when a "once-in-500-years rainstorm" hit the territory.
"But I wasn't really affected by the floods because I could use the footbridge above. I think it's the vehicles that were impacted the most," she said.
Zareenah Ho, an Eastern district councillor, said she believed the flooding at the roundabout on Tuesday caused minimal disturbance as not many cars were on the road.
She said public housing estates such as Hing Wah Estate and Siu Sai Wan Estate had been affected the most.
"It is just behind the hill. The impact is more. Last time [when Typhoon Wipha hit], the wind direction was not attacking the Chai Wan area. But this time, the heavy rain is very focused in the Chai Wan area and Sai Kung area, so the impact is more serious," Ho said.
Heavy rain also led to flooding at an underground car park at Wan Tsui Estate and left vehicles submerged, similar to what happened during severe weather conditions in 2023.
"This is the second time this happened in this car park. First time, I lost a HK$100,000 car. This time, I bought my car five days ago, the same [thing happened]," car owner Zohaib said.
A resident surnamed Chow said he managed to move his vehicle out of the car park in the morning after receiving a text message.
"In the past, they would call us to warn that the car park was flooded and tell us to move our cars, but usually the warning came very late. This time, at least, there was a message notification, which is better," he said.
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