#hongkong has a well-oiled machinery when it comes to weather events.
HK Observatory issues weather warnings: Amber rain, red rain, black rain, monsoon, typhoon T1, T3, T8, T10
Schools, employers, government and private services have well-documented standards for when they'll be open, be closed, offer limited service etc, depending on weather signal and timing.
The city thankfully made a decision relatively early on, before adding millions of people, to invest in separate systems for rain drainage and waste sewage. The drainage has margins for even the most extreme weather events.
All of this is very impressive, but then it also makes it all the more surprising when you encounter the gaps.
Today is just red rain, but some pretty recently built and nice-looking malls have dripping leakage from the roofs and put out security tape and rubbish bins to block off the affected area and contain the leak.
Some recently built and nice-looking walkways are flooded by several centimetres because they weren't built with the appropriate tilt and drainage.
There are people in the city who have decades of experience with civil engineering in this rainy region, but I guess nobody asked them to have a look at the plans before investing billions in construction?
Compared to building entire malls and bridges, making sure this skylight is properly sealed and this walkway is five centimetres higher at that point over there doesn't seem like a huge expense.
@clacke Not a huge one, but it is one. In its insane search for maximum efficiency, capitalism loses the ability to handle events that stray away from the average. It’s the greedy version of “It’s going to be fine”
@hypolite I think it may be that red rain is treated as a corner case and not worth modeling for.
Amber rain happens pretty frequently, everything stays open, people are out and about. Black rains or typhoons don't happen every month, but when they do, most things close, and the rain is heavy enough that whatever you do, streets will be flooded. You're out at your own risk.
Red rain is that in-between state that happens once or twice a year, most things stay open, schools stay open if they already opened, but they close if it happens before the schoolday starts.
Add comment