Shek O residents marooned again

Shek O Road was reopened at 9pm yesterday after it was closed for a second time in a week yesterday morning, as the only road to the seaside village was blocked amid the red rainstorm warning.

The red warning - raised when rain exceeds 50 millimeters in an hour - was hoisted from 5.55am to 10.30am, prompting the Education Bureau to suspend all morning classes, though schools were reopened later.

Earlier, the downpour washed away emergency repair work on Shek O Road - the only way in and out of the district - near Lan Nai Wan after Friday's calamitous rainstorm had triggered a landslide and road collapse there.

So the road was closed for the second time in a week, and government authorities offered Shek O residents "with a pressing need" the chance of leaving the district by boat in the morning.

The road was partially reopened at around noon, but only official vehicles and one red minibus route that runs between Shau Kei Wan and Shek O were allowed to pass through the affected section.

Even then the minibuses had to go through the affected part of the road without passengers, who had to alight and go on foot for around 100 meters before reboarding the vehicles.

"To avoid hindering the emergency maintenance works Shek O Road has been temporarily closed to other vehicles until the emergency maintenance and road enhancement works are completed," a official spokesman explained.

Shek O Road was finally reopened at around 9pm for light vehicles to pass through, and authorities expected all vehicles would be able to use the road by this morning.

In Chai Wan, car owners in Wan Tsui car park faced ankle-deep floodwater to reach their vehicles yesterday morning, though the facility was flooded completely last Friday.

But a car owner living nearby was not among the waders. "The underground car park was already slightly flooded when I arrived," said Chan, "so I opted not to enter the car park. I'll not park there in the short run. I'd rather park my car on the roadside."

The water level started to go down at around 9am as a work crew started to pump away water.

The Drainage Services Department said there were three flooding incidents reported - at Chai Wan Road roundabout, on Quarry Bay Street and on the Island Eastern Corridor near the North Point Fire Station - during the early-morning downpour.

The Hong Kong Observatory reported a trough of low pressure will bring heavy showers and thunderstorms to southern China and the northern part of the South China Sea in the next couple of days.

But with the trough of low pressure weakening forecasters said showers should lessen and conditions improve slightly early next week.