Extreme-weather body tasked with improving Hong Kong’s typhoon-response work
Hong Kong’s leader has tasked a government steering committee on handling extreme weather with improving infrastructure and facilities in storm-vulnerable areas after the city was brought to a standstill by Super Typhoon Ragasa last week. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Tuesday that the government had managed to minimise the damage caused by Ragasa…
Lee said he had asked the steering committee, led by Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki, to evaluate experiences from the storm and make improvements.
“We will also study areas to refine our prevention and response, including optimising basic works, facilities and equipment in areas frequently threatened by typhoons, to better cope with various extreme weather events in the future and protect Hong Kong.”
Ragasa triggered the highest-level No 10 typhoon warning signal for nearly 11 hours last Wednesday. Coastal locations, including restaurants along a Tseung Kwan O promenade and the Fullerton Ocean Park Hotel in Aberdeen, were among those hit by flooding.
Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho said on Saturday that the government would learn from the experience and review coastal facilities, adding that a planned flood wall in Tseung Kwan O and a breakwater in Aberdeen could improve the situation.
