Two-hour grace period for Hong Kong employees to return to work after extreme weather aims to avoid transport chaos of Typhoon Mangkhut
- The amended storm guidelines, which were revealed on Tuesday, will not be legally binding however
Hong Kong’s 3.8 million workers will be able to stay at home for two hours after a storm subsides instead of returning to work immediately, under government proposals to avoid a repeat of the transport chaos seen in the aftermath of Typhoon Mangkhut last year.
The amended storm guidelines, which were revealed on Tuesday, will not be legally binding however, and lawmakers suggested the changes would not keep people at home for longer.
Typhoon Mangkhut prompted the city’s weather authority to issue its highest typhoon warning, the No 10 signal, for 10 hours in September. The typhoon brought a record storm surge, smashed hundreds of windows, left more than 1,000 roads blocked and felled at least 46,500 trees.
Many public transport services were rendered inoperable, including most bus routes and much of the overground rail network, which was smothered with fallen trees and debris.
Commuters were left confused and angry as they tried to reach work, and Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor came under fire for refusing to declare a holiday under the Emergency Regulations Ordinance. Instead she ordered a review of post-storm arrangements.
