Hong Kong Deluged by Flooding

A bus submerged in the torrential rains that flooded HK

A few hours ago pictures and videos of the epic flooding in Hong Kong were posted all over social media -- the muddy waterfall pouring into Wong Tai Sin MTR station, vehicles plowing through water in the Cross Harbour Tunnel, a woman still holding onto her umbrella as she slid about 50 metres along a street, trying to grab onto the railing.

The city is still under a black rainstorm warning 14 hours after it was posted, with rain falling 158.1mm deep between 11pm and midnight last night, an unprecedented amount since records were kept in 1884. In total over 400mm of rain has fallen.

Needless to say today schools are closed, and most people are working from home as the black rainstorm warning is expected to continue until midnight this evening.

Wong Tai Sin MTR station deluged by water

Chai Wan seems to have received the brunt of the intense rain left over from Typhoon Haikui. The New Territories also suffered with the Shenzhen government giving very little notice to its Hong Kong counterpart that it would discharge water from the reservoir -- that knock-down effect left 15 minutes for residents in the area to prepare to evacuate.

So far there are no reports of fatalities, but residents are not impressed by the government's response, with the Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki holding a press conference right now (2.30pm HK time) to report on what the authorities are doing together with the Security Bureau some 12 hours later.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu didn't make any public statements and instead published two social media posts urging people to stay safe. Hongkongers bombarded the comments section questioning why the government's response was so behind, compared to the preparations made when Typhoon Saola was approaching the city.

One commenter by the name of Veronica Law wrote: "Not everyone was on Facebook. Why wasn't even an SMS sent to residents in this kind of situation?" Another user named Emi An said: "Is the chief executive sleeping? Are you aware of the severe flooding out there?"

A shopping mall in Chai Wan flooded

At the press conference going on now, acting director of drainage services Chui Si-kay said Hong Kong's drainage system could not cope with the torrential rainfall, and denied that Shenzhen releasing water from the reservoir did not cause flooding in the New Territories, that it was all from the rainfall. 

One may never be quite sure what the situation was there, but for sure the city will have a lot of water and sludge to get rid of in the streets, in shopping malls, MTR stations, and people's flats. 

There are still questions on how the city's authorities and the Hong Kong Observatory did not prepare residents with the possibility of a deluge of rain...

HK Tunnel Tolls to Change

Will there still be a lot of traffic in this tunnel after August 2?

It's going to cost HK$10 more for commuters to go through the Cross-Harbour Tunnel and Eastern Harbour Tunnel, but HK$15 less for the Western Harbour Tunnel from August 2.

The franchise agreement for the Western Harbour Tunnel ends on August 1 and returned to the government, thus finally allowing the authorities to regulate the tolls at all three tunnels.

Then towards the end of the year, the next step would be regulating the toll price according to the time of day.

Western Tunnel mostly empty, very expensive

Currently the Cross Harbour Tunnel is HK$20, and Eastern Tunnel is HK$25, but both will increase to HK$30 from August 2, while the Western Harbour Tunnel will drop to HK$60 from HK$75.

Then by the end of the year there will be a pricing system to discourage going through the tunnel at peak times:

7.30am-10.15am Peak toll charges

10.15am-4.30pm HK$30 at all tunnels

4.30pm-7pm Peak toll charges

7.01pm-7.30am HK$20 at all tunnels

Cross-Harbour cheapest of three tunnels

In a bid to prevent everyone flooding the tunnels just before the peak toll charges kick in, fees will progressively increase by HK$2 every two minutes from the peak-hour slot up to the maximum amount. The opposite arrangement will happen for off-peak periods.

It will be very intriguing to see how the public reacts to this new arrangement, and how it will be implemented.

But really, if you are a car owner in Hong Kong, paying more or less for the tunnel toll makes no difference. Because if you have to penny pinch, then you wouldn't own a car in the first place...