A major road connecting Tai Po and the northern New Territories that was damaged during a landslide in Tuesday’s record-breaking torrential rains is expected to be fully reopened early next week, with about 100 residents affected.
As they dealt with the aftermath of the city’s second-longest black rainstorm on record, authorities said on Wednesday that they had arranged a special minibus service from Fanling to Wu Kau Tang for nearby residents affected by the closure of a section of Bride’s Pool Road.
The highest-level warning issued on Tuesday lasted for more than 11 hours. The Hong Kong Observatory also measured 358.8mm (14.1 inches) of rainfall at its headquarters in Tsim Sha Tsui as of 5pm, the highest daily August rainfall recorded since 1884.
Around 20 landslides were reported, including in Sai Kung, Tai Po, Kwai Chung, Southern district, Mid-Levels, Wan Chai and Sha Tin, as well as on the islands of Lantau and Peng Chau.
One of them occurred on a slope south of Bride’s Pool Chung Pui barbecue site in Tai Po, with a section of the two-lane Bride’s Pool Road collapsing along with the slope, triggering a complete closure from Tuesday morning.
“Whether we can reopen the road [and resume] two-way traffic would depend on our resources, but we hope to get it done by early next week,” chief highway engineer Lam Kai-man from the Highways Department said on a radio programme on Wednesday.
He explained that the slope supporting the road had collapsed, which meant a section of a lane of Bride’s Pool Road was unusable. After a review, the department found the roadbed beneath the remaining lane was also in poor condition, so both lanes had to be closed.
