Temporary shelters that are open by the Home Affairs Department for people in need are set out in the annex. For enquiries, please contact the emergency hotline on 2572 8427.

     Police today (September 9) appealed to the public for information on a man who went missing in Wong Tai Sin.

     Hau Tak-yau, aged 83, went missing after he left his residence in Upper Wong Tai Sin Estate in the small hours today. His family reported to Police on the same day.

     He is about 1.6 metres tall, 50 kilograms in weight and of thin build. He has a pointed face with yellow complexion and short white straight hair. He was last seen wearing a blue short-sleeved shirt, checkered shorts, slippers and carrying a dark-coloured umbrella.

     Anyone who knows the whereabouts of the missing man or may have seen him is urged to contact the Regional Missing Persons Unit of Kowloon East on 3661 0331 or email to rmpu-ke-2@police.gov.hk, or contact any police station.

  

     The Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced today (September 9) that some gazetted beaches under LCSD management temporarily closed earlier due to inspection and clearance works of damages and miscellaneous articles caused by the extreme weather conditions, have been reopened today or will be opened tomorrow (September 10).

– New Territories

Tuen Mun District : Kadoorie Beach, Cafeteria New Beach and Golden Beach (reopened)
Sai Kung District : Hap Mun Bay Beach, Trio Beach and Silverstrand Beach (reopened)
Tsuen Wan District : Casam Beach and Anglers' Beach (to be reopened at 9am tomorrow)

     The remaining gazetted beaches will be temporarily closed until further notice. 

     Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mrs Ingrid Yeung, on "government-wide mobilisation" at a media session after attending a radio programme this morning (September 9):
 
Reporter: Secretary, can you tell us how many more people or what is your estimate in terms of the number of people being deployed this time compared to when Typhoon Saola hit Hong Kong? Where would these people go to in terms of districts? You also said that the planning of the "government-wide mobilisation" protocol started yesterday, could the mechanism be kicked start even earlier?
 
Secretary for the Civil Service: I would like to say that first of all, all our emergency departments, departments responsible for emergencies, rescue and responsible for dealing with emergency situations, most of them are our works departments which are responsible for dealing with landslides, flooding and so on, they have been all out. They have deployed all their staff to deal with the rainstorm in the past two days.
 
     For other work that can only be done when the roads have been reopened, when the flooding has been subsided, we are now mobilising civil servants from other departments that do not have to deal with these emergencies to help with the work. I think the main work will be to help with people who have been affected by the flooding to restore their home situation in more remote areas, to restore the road situation, and so on. The more local roads, not the main ones. Our civil servants will be deployed to those work. They will be under the charge of the Home Affairs Department and the respective District Offices. The actual number deployed will depend on the situation on the ground and I think they are planning for it, they have already started the work. In the end, the final number can only be decided as the day goes on, when they have an estimate of how much work needs to be done. That's the situation.
 
     As for whether the mobilisation can be done earlier, we have to understand that, when the rainstorm is at its height, it will mainly be the emergency departments and the departments dealing with repair of roads, removal of obstructions that are working. In such situations, when the roads are blocked, when the flooding has still not been subsided, it would not be possible to mobilise civil servants to go to these very local areas to help. We have to wait until, when I say wait – it's really not waiting for a long time, but we have to let the emergency departments to deal with these emergency situations first, and then we mobilise our staff to go under relatively safe conditions to help the families affected and the residents affected.

     Before the Black Rainstorm Warning Signal was down, we have already asked the departments which would likely be mobilised to pay attention to our notices, and so they have in turn asked their staff who are on the first shift to pay attention to their smart phones and the notification system. So all staff are geared up and ready as soon as they are notified. They would be able to come out to do the work. Actually we've notified the departments yesterday that they are very likely to be required to work today. So, this morning, I think our civil servants are very ready to come out and respond to calls.
 
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

     Police are investigating a fatal traffic accident in Airport in the small hours today (September 9) in which a 55-year-old man died.     

     At about 4.10 am, a medium goods vehicle (MGV) driven by a 44-year-old man was travelling along Airport Road towards Chun Wan Road Interchange. When approaching outside 8 Scenic Road, the MGV suspectedly failed to brake in time and rammed into a special purpose vehicle and the 55-year-old man who was involved in cleansing roadworks.

     Police officers sped to the scene. The 55-year-old man was trapped between the two vehicles. Sustaining multiple injuries, he was certified dead at scene.

     The MGV driver felt unwell and was sent to North Lantau Hospital in conscious state. He was arrested for dangerous driving causing death and is being detained for further enquiries.

     Investigations by the Special Investigation Team of Traffic, New Territories South are underway.

     Anyone who may have witnessed the accident or has any information to offer is urged to contact the investigating officers on 3661 1348.

     Police strongly condemn the irresponsible driving behavior of the driver. It not only jeopardises the safety of other road users and threatens ones’ personal safety, but is also the actual cause of serious traffic accidents. Police do not tolerate such acts and will take resolute enforcement action.