Hong Kong Flooding*

Hong Kong floods stretch emergency services

June 9, 2001 Posted: 7:48 PM HKT (1148 GMT)

This village in the New Territories is submerged in flood water

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HONG KONG, China -- Firefighters used helicopters and dinghies to rescue 102 people stranded by floods during torrential rain in Hong Kong as 13 of those rescued were hospitalized.

Workers in helicopters rescued nine people trapped on rooftops in a village in the northern suburbs.

Firefighters saved dozens of people from many villages, and in some areas, the rescuers waded through chest-deep water to reach trapped people.

The Hong Kong Observatory recorded 12 inches of rainfall in the worst-hit rural areas during a five-hour period Saturday. Hundreds of people were evacuated from flooded villages.

"We're very afraid. We keep shouting for help. I've never seen my mother's house so seriously flooded," a woman told local TV.

The pouring rain prompted the closure of schools Saturday and stranded many people away from home. Some found shelter in community centers, the government said.

The rain disrupted bus service and caused a huge traffic jam near the border with mainland China. Vehicles trying to return from the mainland were stranded in Shenzhen.

A government spokeswoman said 11 landslides were recorded. Meanwhile in southwestern China, seven people including four Taiwanwese tourists, were killed in a landslide in heavy rains near the Vietnamese border, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

The Associated Press
(Original Len: 1916 Condensed Len: 2181)


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