SHENZHEN managed to cope with brief heavy rain during the evening rush hours Wednesday, when a sudden downpour lashed Luohu District and swamped some streets, according to SZTV.

The Shenzhen Meteorological Observatory issued a yellow alert for rainstorm across the city Wednesday afternoon. At 7:25 p.m., Luohu upgraded the yellow alert to an orange alert, which means that the cumulative rainfall in the district had reached more than 50 millimeters in the last three hours.

According to national standards, a rainstorm indicates rainfall reaching 50 millimeters in 24 hours.

Affected by Typhoon Lupit, torrential rain and local rainstorm hit Shenzhen with short-term high winds Wednesday evening. The city’s maximum cumulative rainfall and hourly rainfall intensity reached 109.6 and 79 millimeters, respectively, all of which emerged at Shenzhen Reservoir in Luohu.

Evening rush hour traffic was slow in some urban road sections due to the sudden heavy rainfall. At 7:30 p.m., Shenzhen traffic police updated road conditions in real time.

At 8 p.m., flooding appeared under Donghuan Overpass on Yanhe Road in Luohu and six vehicles were stranded on the road. Luohu traffic police rapidly organized police and trailers to the congested road to clear traffic and carry out rescue efforts. After multiparty efforts, flooding under the overpass subsided within one hour. All the people stranded were transferred safely.

A quick response happened on Aiguo Road near Donghu Park in Luohu. “When we received the yellow alert from Shenzhen Meteorological Observatory, we had already arrived at the scene,” said He Gang, deputy general manager of Luohu branch of Shenzhen Water Group.

The city’s water affairs department, together with the subdistrict offices, traffic police and fire department, promptly evacuated the stranded pedestrians and carried out drainage operations that removed the water from the road in about half an hour.  (Zhang Yu)