Le Temps | By: Julie Zaugg | GPE – September 28, 2017:
The port city is one of the most threatened by global warming. But it has adopted a series of innovative measures to protect itself from floods and rising waters.
Hong Kong is one of the cities most exposed to climate change. Each year, it suffers several typhoons and receives 2400 millimeters of rain, making it one of the wettest cities in the world. By way of comparison, the average annual rainfall in Geneva is 917 millimeters.
Its topography – a thin strip of ultra-urban land bordered on one side by the sea and on the other by steep hills – makes it particularly vulnerable to flooding and landslides. More than 15% of its territory is also below sea level, in particular part of the city center and the airport, is composed of land taken over by the sea.
“With global warming, Hongkong will experience fewer days of rain but they will be more intense,” said David Chen, a climate scientist at the University of Hong Kong. Typhoons will also become more fierce. “A report released by the government in 2015 calculated that Hong Kong would receive 180 millimeters more rain per year by the end of the 21st century compared to 1986-2005.
But if Hong Kong is one of the cities most at risk, it is also one of the best prepared. Beneath the gigantic oval ground that houses the Happy Valley Racecourse and several football fields, amid the skyscrapers, there is a large cavernous hall illuminated with neon. Its sloping soil is covered with small mounds of earth and puddles of water. Here or there, a plant has germinated. “This space, which was completed in March 2017, is used to harvest rainwater in the event of a major storm,” said Kan Hon-shing, chief engineer of the Hong Kong Department of Drainage.
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