Calls to charity for elderly hit 1,620 a day as Hong Kong logs record heat high on Monday
- City’s temperature recorded as 35.4 degrees Celsius on Monday, but some areas go up to 38.9 degrees
Some areas were suffering the heat for the third day in a row, which triggered SOS calls from vulnerable elderly people asking for relief, the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association said.
A major organisation that works with people who live in cramped subdivided homes also appealed to the government to step in and give less-well-off residents energy subsidies. The Society for Community Organisation (SoCO) added that care teams should also be sent to visit high-risk groups.
The Observatory confirmed that the mercury had reached 35.4 degrees in urban areas on Monday and that it was “the highest temperature recorded this year”.
Scientific officer Wong Yat-chun said the soaring temperatures were down to light winds and a weather system over southern mainland China.
The Observatory said an anticyclone, associated with calm, fine weather, over the area had triggered the heat.