Climate change is making extreme weather a permanent feature of life in Hong Kong and the city needs to act
Wild Weather Demands a New Era of Preparedness in Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s relationship with extreme weather has always been intimate. Typhoons, torrential rain, and ferocious storms are part of the city’s seasonal rhythm. But the nature of that relationship is changing. Climate change is making extreme weather events more frequent, more intense, and less predictable, and Hong Kong needs to move beyond reactive responses toward a serious, sustained investment in climate preparedness.
The Changing Weather Pattern
In recent years, Hong Kong has experienced weather events that would previously have been considered exceptional but are now becoming disturbingly routine. Rainfall records have been broken multiple times. Flooding that once might have occurred once in a generation now threatens the city on an almost annual basis. The landslide risk in the city’s hilly terrain has increased as soil saturation events become more common. And the typhoon season, while always unpredictable, is producing storms with greater intensity at the upper end of the scale.
The scientific consensus on this is clear. As global average temperatures rise, the energy available to drive weather systems increases. Warmer ocean surface temperatures in the South China Sea fuel stronger typhoons. Warmer air holds more moisture, producing heavier rainfall events when that moisture is released. These are not speculative projections; they are already observable realities in Hong Kong’s weather record.
The Infrastructure Vulnerabilities
Hong Kong’s urban infrastructure was largely designed for the weather of the 20th century, not the weather of the 21st. The drainage systems in many older districts were built to handle rainfall intensity levels that are now regularly exceeded. Low-lying coastal areas face increasing flood risk as sea levels rise and storm surges grow more severe. The city’s extensive underground transit network, while generally robust, has proven vulnerable to extreme flooding events of the kind that will become more common.
The September 2023 flooding event, which brought the city to a standstill and caused significant property damage, was a stark demonstration of what happens when infrastructure meets weather that exceeds its design parameters. The Hong Kong Observatory documented the event as historically unprecedented in terms of rainfall intensity, but increasingly such records are being set to be broken again.
What Preparedness Looks Like
Serious climate preparedness for Hong Kong requires action across multiple domains. Infrastructure upgrades to drainage and flood management systems are essential but insufficient on their own. Building codes need to be updated to reflect new climate realities. Emergency response systems need to be stress-tested against more severe scenarios than those used in existing planning. And critically, the public needs to be educated about the new risk landscape so that individual and community preparedness can complement government action.
Urban greening, including the maintenance and expansion of green corridors, parks, and hillside vegetation, plays a crucial role in managing rainfall runoff and reducing the heat island effect that amplifies urban temperatures. Hong Kong has made some progress in this area but much more remains to be done.
Regional and International Cooperation
Weather does not respect borders, and effective climate adaptation in Hong Kong requires cooperation with regional partners. The Pearl River Delta region, of which Hong Kong is geographically part, shares many of the same climate vulnerabilities, and coordinated responses to flooding, extreme heat, and storm surges will be more effective than purely local action.
International frameworks like the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction provide a blueprint for the kind of comprehensive, multi-hazard approach to disaster preparedness that Hong Kong needs to accelerate. The framework emphasises understanding risk, strengthening governance, investing in resilience, and enhancing preparedness for effective response.
The Human Cost of Inaction
Beyond infrastructure and logistics, climate preparedness is fundamentally a question of human welfare. Hong Kong’s most vulnerable residents, including the elderly, the poor, and those living in subdivided flats or cage homes, face disproportionate risks from extreme weather events. When flooding strikes, it is the poorest neighbourhoods that suffer most. When heat waves intensify, it is those without air conditioning or living in cramped conditions who are most at risk of heat-related illness and death.
The Climate Justice Alliance and related organisations have long argued that climate adaptation must be pursued with explicit attention to equity, ensuring that the most vulnerable are protected, not left to manage increased risk with their own insufficient resources.
Hong Kong’s government has the resources and technical capacity to lead on climate preparedness. What is needed now is the political will to treat extreme weather not as a recurring emergency to be managed but as a permanent feature of the city’s future that demands systematic, sustained, and equitable investment in resilience.
Jessica Lam
Politics & Diaspora Affairs Journalist, Apple Daily UK
Contact: jessica.lam@appledaily.uk
Jessica Lam is a politics and diaspora affairs journalist with specialized expertise in Hong Kong governance, overseas Chinese communities, and democratic movements. Educated at a leading UK journalism institution, she received advanced training in political reporting, international law basics, and source protection, equipping her for complex cross-border coverage.
Jessica has worked with Apple Daily and other liberal Chinese publications, reporting on electoral systems, civic participation, protest movements, and policy developments affecting the Chinese diaspora. Her work demonstrates strong command of political context and an ability to translate complex issues into accessible, fact-driven journalism.
She brings real-world newsroom experience in covering time-sensitive political developments while maintaining strict verification standards. Jessica regularly works with primary documents, expert interviews, and multiple independent sources to ensure balanced and accurate reporting.
Her authority is reinforced by consistent publication within established news organizations and by adherence to editorial review processes. She is known for transparent attribution and for distinguishing clearly between reporting and analysis.
Jessica Lam’s journalism reflects professional experience, subject-matter expertise, and a strong ethical foundation. At Apple Daily UK, she contributes trusted political coverage that serves readers seeking independent and credible information.
