We have definitely moved to a tropical environment - the humidity at present is INSANE !! I am assured we will acclimatise at some point - hopefully sooner rather than later. We have had two weeks of rain - it has been constant. We have had at least 10 amber thunderstorms, 2 red storms and now 1 black storm.
The surprise to us is the volume of water that has fallen from the sky, and the consistency of the rain. Hong Kong has 4 categories of storms which I haven't heard of previously : Amber, Red, Black and then Tropical Cyclones.
Descriptions of each are as follows:
Amber: over 30mm of rain falling within an hour and causing flooding in low lying areas.
Red: Heavy rain falling over 50mm of rain within an hour. Key government departments, transport and utility operators are put on alert.
Black: is over 70mm of rain. Schools will close, buses won't go, even the justice department was adjourned for an indefinite period. You are warned not to drive during a black storm, and your car insurance is void if you have an accident.
Tropical Cyclones: vary from T1 where a typhoon has been spotted but will be likely to be days before any impact to Hong Kong, up to a T10 is a direct hit, with the eye of the storm hitting Hong Kong directly. Luckily we haven't had any of these at all.
All of this is new to me.
The surprise to us is the volume of water that has fallen from the sky, and the consistency of the rain. Hong Kong has 4 categories of storms which I haven't heard of previously : Amber, Red, Black and then Tropical Cyclones.
Descriptions of each are as follows:
Amber: over 30mm of rain falling within an hour and causing flooding in low lying areas.
Red: Heavy rain falling over 50mm of rain within an hour. Key government departments, transport and utility operators are put on alert.
Black: is over 70mm of rain. Schools will close, buses won't go, even the justice department was adjourned for an indefinite period. You are warned not to drive during a black storm, and your car insurance is void if you have an accident.
Tropical Cyclones: vary from T1 where a typhoon has been spotted but will be likely to be days before any impact to Hong Kong, up to a T10 is a direct hit, with the eye of the storm hitting Hong Kong directly. Luckily we haven't had any of these at all.
All of this is new to me.
Today, I left the house in sunshine, sure there were clouds around but not 15 minutes later, I was on the side of the road because I couldn't see 10 metres in front of me!! As I waited it out inside the car in a completely strange part of Hong Kong, the storm alert came through - amber and then upgraded to red, and then further upgraded to black. The lightening was insane and the volume of rain incredible. I don't know the area that well yet, so just stayed parked in a safe place until it passed. There was no need for me to rush anywhere or do anything, so staying put was the best option. I ended up staying there for nearly 2 hours.
The 2 red storms have created traffic chaos in Hong Kong and also resulted in airport delays and cancellations. I wasn't aware of how crazy this time of year was. Todays Black Storm resulted in services being shut in the city, schools cancelling bus rides home, 6 flights cancelled, and over 150 flights delayed. We had over 100 mm in the hour, and after 2 weeks of daily rain, there is just no where for all that water to go !! That equals 'flooding'.
Of course, with all this rain comes damp inside the house. I have already purchased 3 dehumidifiers and will probably have to get another one or two. They suck at lease 15-20 litres of water every day out of the air in our house - incredible. But I don't want a mouldy house ......
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| my new best friend - dehumidifier |
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