There were still some isolated thundery showers the next day after several days of continuous heavy rain. A flash flood at the Tai Shing Stream swept a group of hikers into the Shing Mun Reservoir. Three men and a woman died in the incident.
As a ridge of high pressure became established over south China, local weather turned fine and hot from July 17 to 23. The month's highest temperature of 33.4 degrees was reached on a sunny afternoon on July 22.
4
Showery weather returned two days later. With a trough of low pressure over the coast of Guangdong, disturbed weather and once again thunderstorms affected the territory for three more days.
Tropical Depression Gary developed over the Philippines and moved into the South China Sea on July 28. Weather in Hong Kong was fine but hazy as Gary intensified and approached the south China coast. Gary made landfall near Shantou on July 31 and its associated rainbands brought more than 20 millimetres of rainfall to the urban areas.
There were two tropical cyclones over the western North Pacific and the South China Sea in the month of July. Details of the issuance/hoisting and cancellation/lowering of various warnings/signals in the month are summarised in Table 1.1. Monthly meteorological figures and departures from normal of July are tabulated in Table 1.2.