Gov’t urged to better handle heavy rainstorms

Several committee members of the Northern District Advisory Committee for Community Service advanced suggestions for the government on how to better handle heavy rainstorms at their regular meeting yesterday.
The meeting followed heavy rainfall hitting the city on June 22, when the Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) issued the yellow rainstorm warning signal at 7:10 a.m., and the red rainstorm warning signal at 7:50 a.m. that day: a time when most students were commuting to school.
This left many disgruntled parents and students complaining that the signal came “too late.”
In view of this, Hoi Long Tong, who is one of the committee members, suggested the SMG considers issuing the rainstorm signal in a more “humane” manner next time, in a bid to minimize impacts on parents and their children.
Meanwhile, another member, Hong Wai Tong, asked the SMG to upgrade its hardware equipment to improve the accuracy of weather forecasts, and urged the authorities to release messaging about extreme weather as early as possible so that the public have more time to prepare.
Some other members were concerned about the chronic flooding problem. They suggested prioritizing enhancement works, such as stepping up efforts to control illegal sewage, especially at the flooding black spots Ilha Verde and Toi San.
Another member called on the government to make good use of advanced technology to identify the sources of flooding.