INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The Asian financial hub of Hong Kong was drenched on Friday by the heaviest rain since records began 140 years ago, killing one person and
injuring 83, media reported, as unusually wet weather caused by typhoons brought more disruption to southern China.Videos showed cascades of
water surging down steep hillsides in the former British colony, flooding waist-deep in narrow streets, and inundating malls, metro stations
and tunnels, Reuters reported.The extreme weather also brought chaos to the nearby Chinese city of Shenzhen, a tech hub of more than 17.7
million people, with business and transport links across the economically important Pearl River Delta severely hit.&I&ve never seen scenes
Even during previous typhoons, it was never this severe
It&s quite terrifying,& said Hong Kong assistant nurse Connie Cheung, 65.The torrential rain was brought by Haikui, a typhoon that made
landfall in the Chinese province of Fujian on Tuesday
Although it weakened to a tropical depression its slow-moving clouds have dumped huge volumes of precipitation on areas still soaked by rain
from a super typhoon a week earlier.Hong Kong&s weather bureau issued its highest &black& rainstorm warning, and said more than 200 mm (7.9
inches) of rain was recorded on Hong Kong&s main island, the Kowloon district and the northeastern part of the city&s New Territories from
late on Thursday.The city&s leader, John Lee, said he was very concerned about the severe flooding in most parts of the territory and had
instructed all departments to respond with &all-out efforts&.Hong Kong authorities shut schools on Friday and told workers to stay at home
The city&s stock exchange was also shuttered.Eric Chan, secretary for administration, said the city&s transport network was &severely
disrupted& and an &extreme conditions situation& would be extended to midnight on Friday.MTR Corp, which operates the city&s rail network,
said at least one line was shut while others were operating with delays
One video clip showed metro workers wading waist-deep in a station.Some roads were partly washed, including a main route to the city&s
A car was swallowed up by a metres wide pothole when one section of road collapsed, social media pictures showed.Rescue workers took one
person to hospital who was dead on arrival, a television news channel reported.The city&s cross-harbour tunnel, one of main arteries
connecting Hong Kong island to Kowloon, was inundated and a shopping mall in the Chai Wan district was half-submerged.Some passenger and
cargo clearance operations at two border points between Hong Kong and Shenzhen were suspended due to flooding.Macau ferry operators in Hong
Kong said several sailings would be suspended to the gambling hub.More than 100 pigs in an area near the border with Shenzhen drowned in a
flood, media reported. The post Hong Kong&s heaviest rain in at least 140 years floods city streets, metro first appeared on Ariana News.
