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OVERLAND CHINA MAIL
RECORD HONGKONG DELUGE.
July 19.
If not the greatest in mere figures, then the most destructive deluge of Hongkong's history has wrought indescribable damage and confusion in all parts of the Colony.
trivial.
In the short space of time, it is impossible to give a rough estimate of the loss in money. The havoc will take time, men and cash to repair. But worse still, lives have been lost as a result of the furious rainstorm which started last night and has not ended this afternoon, Details given below tell of the another early morning offensive world, where wide scope of the damage. On in Flanders (as an ex-service man geat older residents, the point which put it), all records for any one had caused the higgest impression hour of rainfall were broken. is the period during which thunder. lightning and rain by the bucket- ful came without a moment's brouk.
It must be an unusual pleno menon for Hongkong to be prae- tically alight for more than half
a hour before 4 a.m. The peals of thunder which chased each other across the heavena portendal ill for the Colony this mornbau- the effects being described heiew.
Much time will elapse before order
restored
throughout From the earliest hours, the Police, Fire Brigade, Public Works Depart- ment, Sanitary Department and
ia
The previous best, for an hour of rainfall in Hongkong, was 3.480 inches which fell in one hour on July 15, 1886. (This figure is just below 31% inches). Between 3.30 and 4.30 this morning, that is, when the lightning was so incessant that the skies were always lit up the rain-gauge at the Royal Observatory. Kowloon. recorded 3.965 inches. (This is nearly 4 inches and almost exceeds the previous highest by half an inch.)
even Hongkong's bath-day is considered
Cherra Punji in the Khasi Hills, Assam (India) has 464 inches a year (this average ex- tending over 33 years). In July there, the wettest month, they have 30 inches a day for five suc- cessive days, and a mean of 115 inches (equal to our total for a year) for this month.
The Storm.
The storm itself, as regards its duration and the force of the claps (there was barely a second between the flash and report), is generally recognised as the worst Highest For Any July Day. Hongkong has ever experienced. When the figures for nine Residents of twenty-six or even others were out in rescue and re- hours were available this morn- longer residence are unanimous habilitation parties but the coming, we found that we had already in this respect. paratively small number available, beaten, by about 50 per cent., the made but little headway against the
storm.
CAUSE OF DELUGE,
Although the week-end typhoon -the first of the current season -did not actually visit Hongkong. it is the direct cause of this morn- ing's complete deluge.
That typhoon
went inland about 80 miles to the East of Hongkong, near Swatow. Then it stopped and started to "fill-up."
LATEST FIGURES.
Between midnight last night and 1 p.m. to-day 20.79 inches of rain were recorded at the Observatory.
From 10a.m. yesterday to 10a.m. to-day, the figures are 21.44 inches.
Weather forecast till noon to-morrow: South-west winds, fresh: overcast, rain.
By doing so it became a little arca of intense depression, with con- siderable effect on atmospheric circulation. The result is all this weather upheaval, thunder storms
and abnormal rains.
NEW RECORDS.
Nearly 4 Inches An Hour.
When the thunder was con- tinuous, or as though the artillery barrage had started to usher in
record for any 24 hours (or. strictly speaking, a civil day).
12 mid-
A civil day is from night to 12 midnight. The high- est in the books for any day in the month of July is 13.480 inches, for the 15th of that month, in the year 1886. From midnight last night till 9 this morning, the Observatory had already regis- tered 19.155 inches of rain.
Impressive Figures.
Still, the old brigade hold a few relies which the majority of re- sidents will be well content to leave to them. There are a good many hours to go before midnight to-night, when 24 hours will have been completed. By then, the experts expect that we shall have left everything behind and set up a new best. Excepting the really curious. Hongkong prefers not to shatter records but home dry to-night.
get
For a civil day (midnight to midnight) Hongkong's best is 20.496 inches on May 30, 1889.
For any period of 24 consecu- five hours, the best is 27.44 inches, being from 6 a.m. on May 29. 1889, to 6 am. on May 30. 1889.
Hongkong Well-off!
FOUR BODIES.
The Fire Brigade were out early to assist in rescue work at the No. 3 pumping station, near the Univer ally.
A portion of the building
collapsed and several men went under.
Two bodies were dug out from the debris. Four others were rescued and sent to hospital.
This was the first fatality report- ed to the authorities. The above are the only available meagre de- tails, but it is known that strenuous efforts are being made there.
No. 3 pumping station is on Pok- fulam Road, just beyond the medi- cal buildings of the University.
Iligher above are Elliot Alter beds. The station supplies the Peak from the filter beds.
Later. A large boulder was unloosened from the hillside and crashed on the station.
Four bodies have been found.
MORNING "TREK."
Unprecedented Seenes la Cily,
Unprecedented scenes were wit nrused in the city and all parts et the Colony this morning when in their morning "trek" to the offler business people tried by-ways and devious routes to find in practical ly every instance that the only solution was to wade several feet deep in water.
In other words, May 29 and 30 of 37 years ago, may have brought down a bigger volume of water, but the series of damage all over the f'olony, may not have been so great. Then there was not so much buikling, site-cutting and other structures of man to un- Rieshas and chairs were engger-
bif loosen and cause havoc as is the ly plying for fares case to-day.
vehicles were unable to get far along the main thoroughfares; some actually capsized and precipitated their occupants into the flood.
The above figures will convince the average Briton from Home. But there are other places in the
many
[No. 2998. July 22, 1926.
The rivers of water pouring over coada and tracks put a stop to the Peak tramN service, lower level trama, buses, taxis, etc.
Fording the Streams.
The "trrk" which set in down the old Peak road and all routes from the outskirts to the city must have been, on a miniature scale, some- thing like the condition of affairs at Home during the general strike. Added to the discomfort of the pedestrians, of course, was the con- tinual downpour and the necessity of fording streams which in places were as much as four feet deep. Cataracts people stranded,
Were HA numerouN
BR
Kowloonites came off compara- tively well considering. Many of the older buses were "stuck" in Youmati and other places and the service was very limited rendering necessary something like a twenty
nutes' wait at the stopping placer would-be travellers. The "Star" ferry service continued as usual but Yaumati suffered very badly from inundation and the ferry ser vice there was temporarily sus pended.
Slimy, Yellow Rivers. Arrived at the "Star" ferry wharf (Hongkong side) the troubles be- gan in real earnest. The sandy waterfall over the Praya wall was sufficient indication of what they had to face and the streams of water traversing Pavement and road in every direction confirmed their apprehensions. Des Voeux Road, Queen's Road, Ice House
WATER RATIONS.
the damage to Owing to
has pumping station, which completely cut off all supplies for the time being to Robinson Road, Conduit Road and the Peak districts, it is essential that even for cooking purposes. only the minimum quantity of water should be used.
As far as possible, residents in those districts must tem- porarily cease using water for bathrooms, &c. Every endea your should be made to spring or rain water for wash- ing and general purposes.
All water should be boiled.
Street,
Chater
030
and
Pedder Street Road were feet deep And in places the everywhere pedestrian would find himself with cut warning almost wais, deep in Many shops slimy, yellow rivers. were flooded out.
Ofee Outside the Post
the waded
waterbeds, groping blindly for a foothold, cheered by lonely spectators from afar.
onf
Wyndham Street Rapids. Due, apparently, to a water main
OVERLAND CHINA MAIL
Several landslides are reported from different localities, and a part of the old Peak Road below Barker Road has been washed away. A subsidence also occur-
STREET BURSTS Uip.”
The queer experience of a street bursting up is reported from the Wanchai district.
No. 2998.-July 22, 1926.)
burst, masses of road surface had been torn up in Pedder Street, near the Hongkong Hotel entrance and parts of the hoarding used in connection with the re-construc-
lion were lying helplessly in the red outside St. Paul's and also water. A palm tree, apparently further down Lower Albert Road. carried down from Glenealy, had come to rest outside the Motel. A smaller palm tree complete with pot) was carried down Wyndham Street as far an On ban Street.
Wyndham Street presented a re- markable spectacle, water descend-
St. Francis Street, leading from ing the road and pavements early the square, downhill, into Queen's this morning with the force of Road East, is stated to have had rapids. There were several cases its surface carried away by the of people being carried away
i torrents.
One result is that attempting to praverse it. A child Spring Garden Lane became a who endeavoured to cross to join canal, connecting Queen's Road ber mother was carried tonic dis with Praya East. A complete tance and eventually rescued by some coolies, a Chinese who “enme down with the food" was stopped ncar the bottom by a European who used the original method of an umbrella as a hook.
Caine Road and Bonham Read were impassable to motor traffic during the early part of the morn- ing.
PEAK TRAM DAMAGE.
When will the Peak trams bo running again, inquired a "China Mail" reporter of Mr. Henry Humphreys, chairman of the com- pany, who replied "Not for 24 hours at least, possibly more."
The worst damage is at Kennedy Road, where tons and tons of earth have fallen over the track. There are several other landslips near the line. A part of the bridge at Kennedy Road is broken, but not exactly carried away. There was also no "juice" this morning to run the ears, an electric cable having been washed away near the Helena May Institute.
Mr. Humphreys is informed by his technical experts that it will take a full day to remove the debris
门
QUEEN'S ROAD SCENES,
Once again Queen's Road Central has suffered untold damage, fu the shops on the south side which are so much lower than the road level.
Hitherto Bo-called "water gales" had proved effective, but the invading elements beat everything. Maddy water swarmed up show- ruses and stands. It was no use trying to shift goods as there was no dry spot to put them.
Everywhere vehicles found diff rulty, not in swimming through miniature lakes and rivulets, but in scraping over the sticky, sucking surfaces of mud at the bottom.
Pedestrians who wore storm boots found it almost impossible to walk through as their feet became en-
Photo by Ying Ming.
Happy Valley, at the Wong-nei-chang corner. The water inside the cou has nearly reached the level of the road and the fall from the roadside is adding to the food. The "lake effect" is also shown,
at Kennedy Road and further time matshed, private ricshas and tangled in inches of alush.
STRUCK BY LIGHTNING.
may be occupied in repairing other other odds and ends were swept damage.
down the incline and deposited near the Tai Wo restaurant.
Queen's Road East, itself, was under several feet of water, shop The house in which is the P. & 0. keepers down there baling out as Mess at Mountain View was fast as they could but to no pur struck by lightning, the cop- pose. Any flat surface. Unless ing of the south-west corner being unusually high, was under water. carried away and the telephone and electric lighting system being put out of order. Four trees out- side were also struck.
A resident in another district of the Peak also bad a scare. being surrounded by smoke and fumes thought to be due to light- ning striking something.
Near Naval Hospital
A landslide occurred at the june tion of Stubbs Road and Magazine Gap Road closing it to motor traße. All along up to the Naval Hospital The road was filled
with earth brought from the hill.
Somebody said that water had entered Queen's Theatre where the film room at the back of the stage had three foot of the water. What, then, about the auditorium?
CRACKER FACTORY BLAZE.
People living in the Ma Tau Kok district, Kawinan City Road, were started early this morning faler i 400 by an explosion even louder Than the terrific thundes elapa,
This was caused the uph The striking by lightning af a large clown in which the praduels the Kwang Man Loong Cracker factory are stored.
23
after fully half of the building had been destroyed. As may be im- agined, they were freed with a task of considerable difficulty with explosiona all around them as the flames reached store after store of crackers. If it had not been for the deluge there would have been no hope of saving even part of the building.
Having got the flames under and dispensed with two of the machines, the Brigade was called to a house collapse at Kowloon Tong.
SWIM TO ASSISTANCE.
Bluejacketa armed with shovels, picks, axes and other tools were busy at the Naval Yard trying to clear the choked drains which blocked water from the direction
of Seven and Six Penny Hill and flooded the yard and the residential quarters. In the early morning several had to swim across in oc- der to render assistance. The workshops were all closed and un- der flood.
Traffic with the town, was cut off until late hour when several braved bunkers of mud and got across. Motor cars and taxis which attempted to cross either got stuck or else had to retreat. The worst portion was near the Sailors' Club.
TOMMIES TURN OUT
Murray Barracks Garden Awash.
The garden at Murray Barracka was almost swept "ay and des-
troyed. Half of the railings on that portion of Queen's Road was taken away with the cement pillars ond placed across the road. Men of the Surrey Regiment were busy learing the earth here. Lieut.-Col. Montague Bates the scene.
was present on
News came through at about 11.30 that there had been a house col- japse at Cross Street, near the No. 2 Police Station. and an at- tempt Was made to get T ambulance and fire engine across, The ambulance went with difficulty as far as the Naval Yard gate and had to return.
Fire Engine Stuck.
The engine got stuck in the mud opposite the Murray Barracks and The Surreys men had to surrender their implements to the fire party to get the engine out.
It was expected to get the engine out and make an attempt to reach the Wanchal enllapse via Kennedy Rond.
In the morning, another fire
was The godown engine observed struggling
In Queen's Road East, near the He Grand Theatre, the whole scaffold was unable to trace anything being of a building enllapsed and the was quickly ablaze and three along Des Vœux Road Central, tow- yond minor damage to a few road War completely blocked, engines were despatched to the ed by a team of Post Office mes- things in the house.
Crowds were busy collecting what spot from the Kowloon Fico Bri- sengers, fremen, and volunteers, firewood they can get and this work grade, After working the greater under a European who in the miat proceeded without any interference part of the morning the firemen looked to be the Ton. Mr. E. D. C. from the law.
succeeded in quelling the flames Wolfe, the C.S.P.
The tennis court at the Hospital at Barker Road was carried away by the inundation of the rain,