Record-breaking rainfall batters Hong Kong and Chinese city Shenzhen in wake of Typhoon Saola

ITV News' Callum Watkinson has this video report, words by China Producer Christine Wei

Hong Kong has been confronted with historic, heavy rain since Thursday night after Typhoon Saola hit the city last week.

Authorities issued a Black Rainstorm Warning Signal at 11:05pm on Thursday - the highest recorded since 1884, and the first temporary shelter started operation at 11:35pm the same day.

As of Friday, a total of 12 temporary shelters have been put set up across the city as homes and workplaces are devastated by the floods.

Two people in the city have died and hundreds evacuated.

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Workers walk through a landslide following heavy rainstorms in Hong Kong. Credit: AP

Water discharge from the Shenzhen Reservoir in China has even prompted officials to arrange vehicles to pick up villagers from six villages potentially impacted by the flooding, and take them to the shelters.

According to state media, the Hong Kong government has now announced it wil suspend several public services on Friday.

Schools have also been closed, and trading has been halted on the stock exchange as non-essential employees are urged to stay home.

The Hong Kong government opted to suspend several public services as buses and cars were flooded

China’s Guangdong province updated the emergency response for flooding triggered by heavy rain from level IV to level II - the second largest level - on Friday.

According to the meteorological observatory of Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong, from Thursday 8am to Friday 3am the city witnessed the year's strongest rainstorm.

From Thursday evening to Friday morning the average rainfall in Shenzhen, a coastal city in Guangdong, was 202.8mm, and the maximum cumulative rainfall reached 469mm.

There has been city-wide devastation in both Hong Kong and Shenzhen

The bureau said this rainfall had super-strong intensity, a long duration and a wide range of torrential rain, with four rainfall records - namely two-hour, three-hour, six-hour and 12-hour maximum rainfall - broken since Shenzhen started keeping meteorological records in 1952.

The severe weather will continue to affect Guangdong, with high risks of floods in small and medium-sized rivers, mountain torrents, geological disasters, and urban and rural waterlogging, the authorities said.

Schools in 10 districts across Guangzhou city were suspended as citizens brace for more record-breaking rainfall.

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