KristyinHongKong

Rainstorm warnings yes rainstorm warnings

So rewind two weeks ago on Saturday.

For those of you who don't know i work saturdays like the majority of Hong Kong people.

I don't need to wake up until 8.30am.

I get a phone call at 7am thinking i'm going to strangle whoever it is. Its Sherry (co-ordinator of centre) she ringing to tell me it a black rain warning i don't need to come to work. Yay i say to her, i can handle being woken up to be told not to come to work even if it means i can't get back to sleep. Ohh i love Hong Kong.

So i lay trying desperately to sleep a little excited about what i can do on my day off. 20-30 minutes pass and another phone call AGAIN before i am supposed to wake up. I knew this can't be good in fact i looked at my phone and thought don't answer it, can i do that just not answer it? I of course did answer giving in to my conscience it was Sherry again the warning has changed to red and therefore i have to go to work even though there are no classes just in case students turn up in which case i am to give them colouring, games to play in the play area. Ohhh i hate hong kong.

What in reality actually happened was i turned up at work and later on in the day the rain warnings changed to amber so many students turned up so did the directors who insisted that i had to some how combine age levels and different types of classes (speaking class with writing class) despite the fact that legally we weren't required to. It ended up being worse than a normal sat at work.

I guess i'm missing some vital information there about rain warnings.

I didn't know about them to sat either, according to HK observatory:

"Rain could be particularly heavy and persistent during May and June, causing severe traffic disruption and on occasions major floods and landslips resulting in casualties.

The rainstorm warning system is designed to alert the public about the occurrence of heavy rain which is likely to bring about major disruptions, and to ensure a state of readiness within the essential services to deal with emergencies. It is independent of other severe weather warnings such as tropical cyclone warning and landslip warning, which will be issued separately where necessary.

There are three levels of warning: AMBER, RED and BLACK.

The AMBER signal gives alert about potential heavy rain that may develop into RED or BLACK signal situations. There will be flooding in some low-lying and poorly drained areas. Key Government departments and major transport and utility operators are put on alert.

The RED and BLACK signals warn the public of heavy rain which is likely to bring about serious road flooding and traffic congestion. They will trigger response actions by Government departments and major transport and utility operators. The public will be given clear advice on the appropriate actions to take."

Yes life in HK is certainly not dull.

Thankfully this weekend is nice and sunny with no rain in sight.



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