The region is seeing some of the worst rainfall on record, and Hong Kong and southern Chinese cities are also dealing with catastrophic flooding.
As schools and places of employment were closed on Friday, Hong Kong’s streets and subway stations were under water.
The rainstorm, which started on Thursday, was the heaviest to batter the city in almost 140 years, according to the weather bureau.
According to emergency services, several rescue operations resulted in the hospitalization of more than 100 people.
On Thursday night, images from the city indicated that the torrential rain had turned the streets into raging rivers and had flooded the city’s shopping malls and public transportation.
Social media videos showed people boarding automobiles and other elevated platforms to get away from the waves, which in some spots have surged several meters high and blocked off subway exits.
The Kowloon peninsula in the city’s north, which is connected to the main island by the cross-harbour tunnel, was flooded. In Hong Kong’s mountainous regions, the rain also caused landslides, which blocked certain routes.
By Friday afternoon, the rainstorm’s intensity had somewhat decreased, and it had been downgraded from a “black” warning to a “amber” alert. However, officials issued a warning that showers were likely to last until Saturday.
The black warning, which is activated when rainfall surpasses 70mm per hour, was issued by authorities on Thursday. Later that evening, the Hong Kong Observatory reported the heaviest hourly rainfall since records began in 1884, 158.1 millimeters.
Between 18:00 local time (10:00 GMT) and midnight, the north-eastern portion of the city, Kowloon, and Hong Kong island received more than 200mm of rain, which is more than the city as a whole regularly gets during some months.
The city of Shenzhen, which is located in southern China and is over the border from Hong Kong, has had the greatest downpours since records have been kept in 1952.
The Guangdong province as a whole has cancelled hundreds of flights, and local authorities have warned residents in low-lying areas to consider evacuations.
In southern China’s densely populated coastal regions, tens of millions of people live.
Shenzhen released water from its reservoirs on Thursday night after sending a notification to Hong Kong; this action prompted online speculation among Hong Kong residents about whether this contributed to the flooding in their city.
Chris Tang, the head of security in Hong Kong, however, claimed on Friday that both Shenzhen and Hong Kong were safe from harm and that the discharge had no bearing on the city’s flooding.
On Friday and Saturday, China’s meteorological administration anticipates that extremely heavy rain will continue to fall across the southwest of the country.
Less than a week ago, two typhoons, Saola and Haikui, swiftly struck southern China, causing a citywide shutdown in Hong Kong. The most recent deluge is now occurring.
The frequency and intensity of tropical storms have increased due to climate change, which has increased flash floods and caused more damage.
