LettersWith intense rain in Hong Kong’s future, it must rethink its flood prevention plans
Readers discuss two factors that will increase rainfall intensity in the Pearl River Delta region and how the city can prepare, and heartwarming incidents during the recent rainstormHong Kong environmental issuesLettersPublished: 11:30am, 21 Sep, 2023Why you can trust SCMP
Meteorologically, this rare event resulted from lots of moisture brought by the remnants of Typhoon Haikui. Many studies have also found that heavy rain tends to occur more frequently over large city clusters. It is therefore likely that the extensive urbanised areas around the Pearl River Delta were a factor contributing to this severe rainstorm.
With global warming, the amount of moisture in the atmosphere will continue to increase. Also, the Pearl River Delta, and in fact the Greater Bay Area, will further develop and become even more urbanised. These two factors are therefore likely to lead to not only more frequent heavy rain events, but also higher rainfall intensity or the amount of rain per hour.