Rain, Rain Go Away
Thank you, weather system, we've had enough rain to last us a while.
On Saturday night, between 2am and 6am, we recorded 200mm of rain (almost 8 inches) in various parts of the territory. I think a lot of it fell overhead where I was trying to sleep. That plus the thunder and lightning (the city was hit by over 6,000 lightning strikes ) made for a very bad night's sleep. And let's not even mention the gusts of wind that seemed to charge down onto my windows. A couple of times over the past few days, heavy, low, dark clouds have thundered in, making us look like a scene out of Independence Day.
When this happens it pushes the rain into the building's walls and through the window frames, so I've had quite a few patches of wet inside my apartment. As though the high humidity wasn't enough, I'm also contending with little puddles of water in various places, just to add a little fun to the proceedings. I may finally break down and buy a de-humidifier after all these years.
It's not a good start to the summer as this can often lead to landslides. I know they're working on an area at the end of my road. Thankfully, slope stabilisation is something that has improved greatly in Hong Kong, though it wasn't always that way and I even lost a schoolfriend way back in 1972 when two landslips caused over 160 deaths. She died in the one that uprooted two residential blocks and took them down the hillside, knocking the side off one building in the process. The loss of life was somewhat mitigated by the fact that one 25-storey building was still under construction.
On Saturday night, between 2am and 6am, we recorded 200mm of rain (almost 8 inches) in various parts of the territory. I think a lot of it fell overhead where I was trying to sleep. That plus the thunder and lightning (the city was hit by over 6,000 lightning strikes ) made for a very bad night's sleep. And let's not even mention the gusts of wind that seemed to charge down onto my windows. A couple of times over the past few days, heavy, low, dark clouds have thundered in, making us look like a scene out of Independence Day.
When this happens it pushes the rain into the building's walls and through the window frames, so I've had quite a few patches of wet inside my apartment. As though the high humidity wasn't enough, I'm also contending with little puddles of water in various places, just to add a little fun to the proceedings. I may finally break down and buy a de-humidifier after all these years.
It's not a good start to the summer as this can often lead to landslides. I know they're working on an area at the end of my road. Thankfully, slope stabilisation is something that has improved greatly in Hong Kong, though it wasn't always that way and I even lost a schoolfriend way back in 1972 when two landslips caused over 160 deaths. She died in the one that uprooted two residential blocks and took them down the hillside, knocking the side off one building in the process. The loss of life was somewhat mitigated by the fact that one 25-storey building was still under construction.
I live on this road, at No. 52, not very far from where it happened. So I'm thankful to see the work they're doing near me, at the moment.
Yesterday, thank goodness, was mainly rain without the high winds and lightning, but they are forecasting more during this week. We're getting the same weather system that is devastating parts of Guangdong province in southern China. It seems to have settled over the entire region.
The umbrella and bucket businesses are booming.
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9 comments:
i hate thunderstorms...i always get really tight under the covers...something about it makes me feel like i'm trying to hide from the boogie monster...
Oh Sophie - I LOVE them!!!! I love mother nature showing us who's in charge like this :)
OMG...ok I'll take the flooding over that. Lol...but I too have had enough of the rain. Bring on the sun.
I'm definitely a ground dweller. You wouldn't get me up in one of those things....... but I guess in HK there's not much choice.
Miranda - I dunno looking at the pics you posted, that would have totally tied us up in knots here...luckily it runs off fast here, into the harbour.
Ian - It's great until the lifts don't work!! I've only ever had to walk down the 35 floors (70 flights of steep narrow back steps, in heels, with no ventilation on a hot summer day) and I sure as hell would never attempt to walk UP them!!
I'm with you Fiona, love 'em!
That must have been one hell of a show, 6000 strikes wow.
I revel in thunderstorms, but from seeing these photographs....my mowing adventure seems more and more pleasant!
Wow! And we Brits grumble about the weather!
Fusion - I was laying in bed, woken by the noise and my entire room (even with curtains closed) was lit up to the point I probably could have read a book at times!!! It was amazing...especially when it wasn't rolling thunder but the crack of electricity directly overhead.
Sunny - luckily, with the work they've done on the slopes, such things are now a rarity, the last bad one was a couple of years ago and more of a slow mudslide rather than a piece of mountain slipping away. Life in the tropics brings with it much rain during the summer months!
FB - when you have a good summer, you get more sunshine than we do! And when it rains here...wow it rains!
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