Hong Kong government says new technology is protecting city against extreme weather on scale of Typhoon Mangkhut

Engineers say they are responding to threat of more powerful storms with high-tech scanners, allowing speedy repairs to defences

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Hong Kong was battered by Typhoon Mangkhut last year and the government says it is preparing for more extreme weather. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 9:15am, 10 Dec 2019Updated: 10:39am, 10 Dec 2019

New technology is helping to protect Hong Kong’s extensive shoreline with the city facing more extreme weather in the coming years, government engineers say.

The carnage wrought last year by Typhoon Mangkhut, the most intense storm in the city’s recorded history, has led the administration to step up its use of cutting-edge imaging techniques for inspections of piers, sea walls, breakwaters and typhoon shelters.

The potential for disaster was revealed when a sea wall collapsed during the September 2018 storm, allowing sewage waste to leak into the sea from Sai Kung, in the east of the New Territories.

Sewage leaks linked to the collapse of a sea wall during a September 2018 storm has highlighted the requirement for regular and efficient checks of infrastructure. Photo: Facebook

“Due to the emergency in the Sai Kung sewage plant, we applied the new technologies to inspect the damage of the sea wall,” Angus Yip Wai-ho, a senior engineer at the government’s Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD), told a media briefing.

“It might not have been possible to send a diver to inspect due to the weather conditions. So I believe the new technology has greatly improved our efficiency.”