Hong Kong cancels all rainstorm warnings but showers, thunderstorms to persist
Heavy showers and squally thunderstorms are expected until midweek, while high temperatures will ease, Observatory says
The Hong Kong Observatory cancelled all rainstorm signals at 9.30pm on Saturday after earlier issuing a red warning and three amber alerts during the day.
The first amber alert, the lowest in the three-tier rainstorm warning system, was lifted at 11.30am, 90 minutes after it was issued. A second amber alert was sent out at 6.45pm.
The red warning was issued at 7.55pm and downgraded to amber at 8.55pm.
“Locally, heavy showers in the evening generally brought more than 30mm [1.2 inches] of rainfall to Hong Kong, and rainfall even reached 60mm over Central and Western district and Cheung Chau,” the Observatory said.
Between 9am and 11am, the Observatory recorded more than 5,700 lightning strikes, of which 1,810 were cloud-to-ground and the remainder cloud-to-cloud.
The forecaster had earlier warned of “violent gusts” affecting the city, with winds of about 80km/h (50mph) recorded on Cheung Chau at around 10.10am.