Weather complaints pour in

THE Hong Kong Observatory (香港天文台) will review its rainstorm warning system after being slammed by parents and school groups for issuing only an amber alert for what seemed like an opening of the heavens last Wednesday morning.

Morning classes and whole-day schools are suspended if the red rainstorm signal is issued between 6am and 8am.

But because it was only amber, students braved the heavy downpour to get to school.

A student who was on her way to school complained: “My socks are soaking wet.” A mother said the observatory should have hoisted the red alert as it is dangerous for children to go to school in slippery conditions.

Senior scientific officer Olivia Lee Shuk-ming (李淑明) said the disruption occurred because the rainstorm happened during the morning rush hour.

Lee promised the observatory will continue to closely monitor the weather situation and issue warnings to the public.

Her remarks came after the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers (香港教育工作者聯會) said the storm had made scores of teachers and students late for school.

The 26,000-member federation claimed the observatory was “being bureaucratic and not working accordingly to the real situation”.

It said the amber signal should have been upgraded to red and demanded the observatory review its services to the public immediately.

But Lee insisted the amount of rainfall did not warrant a red signal.

“The red rainstorm will only be issued if rain exceeds 50 millimetres in an hour territory-wide, while the amber rainstorm signal means rainfall exceeds 30 millimetres in an hour territory-wide,” she said.

(This article is published on The Student Standard on 18 April 2016)

Heavy rain in morning of April 13
http://goo.gl/0PjWVp

Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers
http://goo.gl/MKRsT8