Charlotte Wu
The government is hammering out details of a design this month to fully reopen the only road that connects seaside neighborhood Shek O with urban areas – Shek O Road, which was severely damaged by last month’s rainstorm.
Due to landslides that happened during the black rainstorm warning, two stretches of the road near Lan Lai Wan were closed.
Both lanes were covered after the landslides, and a roadside stone wall was damaged and a 20-meter section collapsed, causing the closure of the only road to Shek O.
To reopen the road and evacuate residents by water, the government established a task force formed by the Home and Youth Affairs, Transport and Logistics, Labour and Welfare, Security, and Development bureaus.
Emergency repair works were carried out by the Civil Engineering and Development Department’s Geotechnical Engineering Office and the Highways Department.
To form a supporting embankment, they removed debris, shotcrete slopes and placed rockfill into collapsed sections.
Considering the large area affected by landslides, Benny Hui Shing-fat, senior maintenance engineer, said the Highways department’s contractors did not have enough rockfill material to complete the repairs.
”The CEDD operated its fill bank round the clock to supply us with rockfill,” Hui said. “We also mobilized other contractors to provide us with construction plants and vehicles so we could keep our work going continuously overnight and speed up repairs.”
It was estimated that the repairs would take two weeks, yet single-lane traffic was restored in around two days.
To reopen the two lanes, Hui said a draft plan was laid out and a consultant was dispatched to work out a detailed design by the end of the month.
Meanwhile, the delivery of supplies and the evacuation of over 100 residents was conducted by the Security Bureau.
With no pier and berthing facilities in Shek O, the Fire Services Department deployed a pontoon to allow residents to get on the speedboats from the shore.
”We think the most feasible way is to ship the pontoon from the North Point Fireboat Station to Shek O directly,” said Fire Services Department senior station officer Ng Chung-yin.
”Residents were able to board speedboats and then transferred to the fireboats.”
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from
https://hongkongnewshk.com/race-to-reopen-shek-o-road/
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