The trough of low pressure associated with remnant of Haikui has brought torrential rain, leading to widespread flooding. Landslides and road collapse occurred in Shek O Road yesterday (September 8). The affected road section has been temporarily closed for emergency slope works. The Government is highly concerned about the incident. Coordination across departments is in place to speed up the repair works and dispatch of supplies as well as facilitate evacuation, with a view to rendering assistance to the affected residents. 

     The Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, instructed all departments to race against time to repair roads, provide necessary supplies to residents and carry out evacuations. The operation has two components - the Transport and Logistics Bureau oversees road repair while the Security Bureau coordinates the distribution of supplies and evacuations.

     The Southern District Office, together with the Fire Services Department, the Police, the Civil Engineering and Development Department, the Highways Department, the Transport Department and the Social Welfare Department, held an interdepartmental meeting last night to discuss on how to assist the affected residents. All the relevant departments have spared no effort in dealing with the aftermath.

     The Southern District Office and the Southern District Care Teams took the fireboat to bring supplies to Shek O via the sea-route in two batches in the morning and in the afternoon today (September 9). Supplies included food, medicines, and SIM cards. The District Officer (Southern) also joined the second batch to co-ordinate efforts of the Care Teams.

     The Fire Services Department, the Police, the Home Affairs Department, the Civil Aid Service and the Auxiliary Medical Service assisted the residents in need to take the fireboat and the Police launch to evacuate to the urban areas this afternoon. The District Offices had arranged the Causeway Bay Community Centre to receive villagers evacuated by the Fire Services Department.

     The Highways Department and the Civil Engineering and Development Department carried out repairing works at two landslide locations at Shek O Road with a view to resuming traffic as soon as possible. Clearance of soil debris from one of the locations was completed at 3pm today. One traffic lane at the other location of road surface with road surface damaged by the landslide was reopened around 9pm today so as to allow light trucks to pass through. The Highways Department will continue with the emergency repairing works, so that single-decker buses could also drive through the road section concerned by 6am tomorrow, after it is confirmed safe to do so.

     The Hongkong Electric Company, Limited (HEC) received a total of six requests for assistance due to power outage from Shek O Village and Tai Long Wan Village. The Government coordinated with HEC personnel for emergency repairs and HEC has assisted the affected households in restoring power today. It has been confirmed that the power supply in Shek O Village and Tai Long Wan Village is normal.

     The Southern District Office, the Fire Services Department, the Police, the Auxiliary Medical Service and the Civil Aid Service will station in Shek O over the night to provide emergency assistance to the residents.

Ends/Saturday, September 9, 2023
Issued at HKT 22:41

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