Subsidence has forced the closure of a busy road in Hong Kong’s Sham Shui Po district for a week, with a four-metre (13-foot) deep hole swallowing pedestrian barriers.
The Transport Department announced on Saturday that all lanes of Hoi Tan Street between Yen Chow Street and Kweilin Street would remain closed to traffic until 6am on June 7, with affected bus routes to be redirected.
Photos of a deep hole in front of residential building Seaside Sonata on Hoi Tan Street began to circulate online on Saturday afternoon, with a road sign and metal barriers having slipped into it.
However, a police spokeswoman said the force received a report about a pothole in the road on Friday afternoon. A security guard at Seaside Sonata had called police about the subsidence.
The Highways Department estimated the hole to be 12 metres long and eight metres wide, with a depth of four metres. No injuries have been reported.
Social media users were quick to complain about the state of the city’s roads as photos of the giant pothole circulated.
“Hong Kong roads nowadays, they become like this with a little rain,” a user named James Chan said on Facebook.
“Lots of these happen on the mainland. You’re making a fuss out of nothing! There will be more to come,” a user named Ric Siu said.
The subsidence appeared as Tropical Cyclone Maliksi triggered a No 3 typhoon signal in the city from Friday to Saturday afternoon.
An amber rainstorm warning was also in force between 3.25am and 5.40am on Saturday. The warning indicates heavy rain exceeding 30mm (1.18in) in an hour has fallen or is expected to fall over the city and is likely to continue.
The Observatory lowered all typhoon signals on Saturday afternoon as Maliksi, which means “fast” in Tagalog, weakened into an area of low pressure.
The Water Services Department said no supply pipes had been damaged by the subsidence. The Drainage Services Department said two drains two metres deep had been partially damaged.
One was a 300mm diameter stormwater drain and the other a sewage drain of 225mm diameter.
The two government branches were investigating the cause of the subsidence with the Highways Department.
