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Kathleen Magramo

New technology is helping to protect Hong Kong’s extensive shoreline with the city facing more extreme weather in the coming years, government engineers say.
The carnage wrought last year by Typhoon Mangkhut, the most intense storm in the city’s recorded history, has led the administration to step up its use of cutting-edge imaging techniques for inspections of piers, sea walls, breakwaters and typhoon shelters.
The potential for disaster was revealed when a sea wall collapsed during the September 2018 storm, allowing sewage waste to leak into the sea from Sai Kung, in the east of the New Territories.

“Due to the emergency in the Sai Kung sewage plant, we applied the new technologies to inspect the damage of the sea wall,” Angus Yip Wai-ho, a senior engineer at the government’s Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD), told a media briefing.
“It might not have been possible to send a diver to inspect due to the weather conditions. So I believe the new technology has greatly improved our efficiency.”
Lawmakers in the city were warned in May that global warming and rising sea levels meant Hong Kong was exposed to typhoons even more damaging than Mangkhut in the future.

 
The city has a shoreline spanning 1,100km (683.5 miles), of which 16 per cent is made up of man-made structures.
Responding to the ongoing threat of extreme weather events, surveyors recently started to used a new integrated system scanner.
Clean-up may take days as Hong Kong picks up the pieces after Mangkhut
It uses laser imaging to capture the state of the facilities above the water and sonar waves to detect underwater structures, producing a high quality three-dimensional model for inspection.
Without the scanners, divers would have to swim in the dirty seawater for several days to map out where to make repairs.

“Many factors such as water traffic, tidal waves and poor water quality made the operations very difficult and produced unclear images,” said Alan Tang Kai-yan, chief engineer of the CEDD’s port works division, at last Thursday’s briefing.
“These new devices can reduce the working condition risks faced by divers.”
The integrated system scanner and imaging sonar device, which cost about HK$3 million (US$380,000), has been in use since the middle of last year, and with increasing frequency since Mangkhut.
After battering by Typhoon Mangkhut, new storm defences for Hong Kong
The department expects to complete a full inspection of Hong Kong’s 127km of sea walls and breakwaters every five years, using the scanner system.
Another imaging sonar device can take high-resolution videos and pictures of underwater beams, which connect pier docks to the seabed.
It would be used in routine checks of the 318 piers and landing steps in the city, which were used by about 46 million passengers in 2018. The device would shorten the inspection time to just an hour.




The CEDD will also pilot the use of drones to scan the narrow space beneath the pier dock and just above the water surface.
That would forgo the need to build a temporary work platform for that purpose, which would cost several hundred thousands of dollars and could take months to inspect a single pier.
Mangkhut struck the city on September 16 last year and was confirmed by the Hong Kong Observatory as the most powerful storm to hit these shores since records began in 1946.


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Extreme weather

Hong Kong government says new technology is protecting city against extreme weather on scale of Typhoon Mangkhut

Hong Kong was battered by Typhoon Mangkhut last year and the government says it is preparing for more extreme weather. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Image of flooded road in Heng Fa Chuen during Typhoon Signal No. 10 and Red Rainstorm Warning Signal are in effect when Typhoon Mangkhut is approaching to Hong Kong. 16SEP18 SCMP / Sam Tsang

=== PHOTO CAPTURED ONLINE=== === PHOTO CAPTURED FROM FACEBOOK === Sewage has been leaking into the sea off ÒHong KongÕs back gardenÓ of Sai Kung as a treatment facility there got damaged from typhoon Mangkhut which had battered the city over last weekend, the authorities warned on Thursday (Sep 20). Photo: Waly Lee/ FACEBOOK.

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epa08038695 A handout photo made available by NASA Worldview shows a satellite image of Typhoon Kammuri approaching the Philippines, 02 December 2019. According to weather forecast, a typhoon signal was raised in eastern Philippines as Typhoon Kammuri, known locally as Tisoy, is heading towards Luzon, the country's largest and most populous island, warning residents living along the typhoon path to take precautionary measures of possible flash floods on low-lying areas and landslides on mountainous villages. Typhoon Kammuri has intensified ahead of its landfall, which is expected for late 02 December or early 03 December in the nation's east, as it continued to threaten the country's hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian Games. EPA-EFE/NASA Worldview HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

Trees sway near buildings as Typhoon Kammuri, known locally as Typhoon Tisoy, makes landfall in Gamay, Northern Samar, Philippines, December 2, 2019, in this still image from video obtained via social media. Gladys Castillo Vidal via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES.

epa08038421 Villagers ride on a truck as they evacuate in anticipation of an approaching typhoon in the town of Lagonoy, Camarines sur province, Philippines, 01 December 2019 (Issued on 02 December 2019). According to the latest government weather bureau forecast, a typhoon signal was raised in eastern Philippines as Typhoon Kimmuri heads towards the main island Luzon, warning residents living along the typhoon path to take precautionary measures of possible flash floods on low-lying areas and landslides on mountainous villages. Typhoon Kammuri intensified ahead of its landfall as it continued to threaten the country's hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian Games. EPA-EFE/JONNEL MARIBOJOC

epa08038426 Villagers disembark from a truck as they evacuate in anticipation of an approaching typhoon in the town of Lagonoy, Camarines sur province, Philippines, 01 December 2019 (Issued on 02 December 2019). According to the latest government weather bureau forecast, a typhoon signal was raised in eastern Philippines as Typhoon Kimmuri heads towards the main island Luzon, warning residents living along the typhoon path to take precautionary measures of possible flash floods on low-lying areas and landslides on mountainous villages. Typhoon Kammuri intensified ahead of its landfall as it continued to threaten the country's hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian Games. EPA-EFE/JONNEL MARIBOJOC

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***ONE TIME USE ONLY *** China Water Risk Kowloon and HK Island flood risk. Photo: CWR

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Hong Kong

Health & Environment


Engineers say they are responding to threat of more powerful storms with high-tech scanners, allowing speedy repairs to defences



Engineers say they are responding to threat of more powerful storms with high-tech scanners, allowing speedy repairs to defences.


Hong Kong weather

Typhoon Mangkhut

Hong Kong government says new technology is protecting city against extreme weather on scale of Typhoon Mangkhut

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Engineers say they are responding to threat of more powerful storms with high-tech scanners, allowing speedy repairs to defences

Engineers say they are responding to threat of more powerful storms with high-tech scanners, allowing speedy repairs to defences