Hong Kong closes schools as torrential rain floods streets, subway station

Hong Kong on Friday closed schools and halted trading on the stock exchange as torrential rain lashed the city overnight flooding streets in parts of the city as well as an underground subway stationHeavy rains poured down on the city from Thursday night with the government warning that the weather would last till noon FridayThe Hong Kong Observatory said it recorded 1581 mm 62 inches of rain in the hour between 11 pm on Thursday and midnight the highest recording since records began in 1884The highest black rainstorm warning the first in nearly two years was issued on Thursday night and remained in place Friday morning with residents urged to seek safe shelter if they were outdoorsVideos circulating on social media showed a flooded underground subway station as well as water rushing down the stairs and escalators of the stationOther videos showed cars caught in muddy water on flooded streets including in the citys crossharbour tunnel that connects Hong Kong Island with Kowloon Another video showed a flooded shopping mall in the citys eastern Chai Wan districtMost of the citys bus services have been suspended as well as parts of the citys subway network that have been affected by the rainAuthorities announced that classes for the day were suspended and urged nonessential employees not to head to their workplacesA government statement during the early hours on Friday said that Hong Kong leader John Lee was very concerned about the severe flooding in most parts of the territory and has instructed all departments to respond with allout effortsThe Hong Kong stock exchange did not open for morning trading on Friday and will remain shut in the afternoon if the citys black rainstorm warning remains in place 12 pmThe citys observatory attributed Fridays rain to a trough of low pressure associated with the remnants of the Typhoon Haikui which earlier this week swept through Taiwan and southern Chinas Fujian provinceThe torrential downpour comes days after the city was shut down due to a different typhoon Typhoon SaolaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever