XN000022-1992-06-17 — Page 8

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 1992

OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS, VISIBILITY AT NIGHT AND IN THE EARLY MORNING REMAINED POOR, PARTICULARLY OVER OFFSHORE AREAS.

HOWEVER, THE MIST AND FOG LIFTED DURING DAYTIME то GIVE FINE AND SUNNY WEATHER.

TEMPERATURES CLIMBED TO A MAXIMUM OF 31.0 DEGREES ON MAY 6, THE HIGHEST FOR THE MONTH AND THE HOTTEST SO FAR THIS YEAR.

MEANWHILE, A TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE HAD FORMED OVER SOUTHERN CHINA AND THE WEATHER SOON BECAME UNSETTLED OVER THE COASTAL AREAS OF GUANGDONG ON MAY 7.

RAIN STARTED TO FALL INTERMITTENTLY THAT MORNING BEFORE A MAJOR OUTBREAK OF SQUALLY THUNDERSTORMS BROUGHT OVER 50 MILLIMETRES OF RAIN IN THE AFTERNOON.

LIGHT RAIN PERSISTED INTO THE EVENING BEFORE A LULL SETTLED IN FOR THE NIGHT. THEN IN THE EARLY MORNING OF MAY 8, FRESH CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT TOOK PLACE JUST TO THE NORTHWEST OF HONG KONG AND MOVED STEADILY TOWARDS THE TERRITORY. RAIN RESUMED JUST BEFORE DAYBREAK.

THE MOISTURE-LADEN AIR REVERBERATED WITH CLAPPING THUNDER AND BLINDING LIGHTNING AS THE TERRITORY BORE THE BRUNT OF THE MOST SEVERE ELECTRICAL RAINSTORM SEEN IN YEARS.

RAIN POURED DOWN WITH COMPLETE ABANDON SOON AFTER 6 AM AND THE AMOUNT OF RAIN THAT FELL IN THE NEXT HOUR, TOTALLING ABOUT 110 MILLIMETRES, SHATTERED THE HOURLY RECORD SET 26 YEARS AGO ON JUNE 12

1966.

BY 9 AM THAT MORNING, NEARLY 200 MILLIMETRES OF RAIN HAD FALLEN AT THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY. THE HAVOC WREAKED BY THE DELUGE WAS WORST OVER HONG KONG ISLAND WHERE OVER 240 MILLIMETRES OF RAIN WERE RECORDED. THE ONRUSH OF RAIN WATER TUMBLED DOWN THE SLOPES OF THE. HILLY TERRAIN AND TURNED THE CITY ROADS INTO A NETWORK OF SWOLLEN RIVERS AND RAGING STREAMS.

RAIN

AFTER A BRIEF RESPITE LATER THAT MORNING, TORRENTIAL RETURNED IN THE AFTERNOON AS ANOTHER BAND OF RAIN CLOUDS FOLLOWED THROUGH AND SWEPT ACROSS THE TERRITORY.

BY THE END OF A DAY OF STORMY WEATHER AND HEAVY SQUALLS WHICH LASTED TILL EVENING TIME, A TOTAL OF 324.1 MILLIMETRES OF RAIN WAS RECORDED AT THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY, THE SECOND HIGHEST FOR THE MONTH OF MAY SINCE RÉCORDS BEGAN IN 1884.

FOUR PEOPLE WERE KILLED AND ONE WAS REPORTED MISSING IN ACCIDENTS BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE HEAVY RAIN.

MORE THAN 200 CASES OF MUDSLIPS WERE REPORTED OVER THE TERRITORY, OF WHICH 150 OCCURRED ON HONG KONG ISLAND. RESIDENTS OF SOME BUILDINGS IN TANNER ROAD, KENNEDY ROAD, BAGUIO VILLA AND HUNG SHING YE VILLAGE IN LAMMA ISLAND HAD TO BE EVACUATED.

/THE DELUGE