Abacus | From China to Europe, being ill prepared for floods will leave us soaked in regret
- Were the devastating floods that hit China, several European nations, Turkey, India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the US and New Zealand predictable?
- Flooding in Europe was foreseen, reported and repeatedly warned through bulletins by a prominent UK university. But the alerts fell on deaf ears
As residents of South Lantau will tell you, living in the pretty seaside town of Mui Wo at the bottom of one of Hong Kong’s larger mountains can occasionally get a bit damp.
Being on the flood plain of several small rivers that flow into Silvermine Bay, residents have at times found themselves waist-deep in water for a few days during the summer storms, ruining furniture and playing havoc with their septic tanks.
Several large flood ditches were constructed around the villages at the base of the mountain, and according to hardy residents with memories that go back 15 years to the Asian floods that prompted the build, this “solved” the problem.
Indeed, the ditches are useful, when it is dry the water buffalo and the cows find them a good supply of grass, the displaced frogs and toads have found their way back to the swampy dampness, and occasionally they have been a saviour for a lost paraglider to come in to land. But when it rains hard, they do their intended job and take the flood out of the swamp and into the river Silver.
However, even in the relatively short time I have lived there, the storms seem to have got progressively worse, and more frequent. The storm ditches get filled quicker these days and soon meet the storm surge from the sea, which with typhoon Mangkhut in 2018 submerged the Mui Wo ferry pier for a day and almost washed away our pub. Watching the fisherman’s polystyrene flotsam coming towards my flat during the No 10 beast when it usually floats out the other way towards the sea got me worried.
It’s raining, it’s pouring
In the 10 years I have been there, many more new buildings have been erected on and around the swamp at the back of the town, families have moved in, and the whole area has got much busier.
