Hong Kong CNN –
Until recently, the Redhill Peninsula’s upscale homes seemed to be a haven for wealthy Hong Kongers seeking a quiet lifestyle in an otherwise notoriously crowded metropolis of 7.5 million people.
Its cliff-side location and uninterrupted views of the South China Sea made for great feng shui and offered the gated community of tycoons, expats and celebrities the perfect antidote to the hustle and bustle of city life.
But the same pristine location was negatively impacted on September 8, when a storm brought the heaviest rain in nearly 140 years to Hong Kong, causing devastating damage across the city.
Two people were killed and more than a hundred injured as more than 600 mm (23.6 inches) of rain pelted the coastal city, flooding subway stations and turning streets into rivers.
The chaos was not limited to the flooded lowlands. At the top of the edge of the cliff that separates the Redhill Peninsula from the sea below, the ground split away, leaving three millionaire’s homes dangerously close to the edge and requiring an evacuation.
In a city that had just experienced its hottest summer on record, the unprecedented rainfall – itself the result of the second typhoon to hit the city in a week – was stark evidence of the threat posed by climate change associated consequences of extreme weather.
But for Redhill Peninsula residents it was also a reminder that climate change is rewriting the rules for “safe” building and that even the most expensive and well-built homes can be at risk.
For some, it may even be a reminder that such rules even exist. City officials say they are investigating whether building code violations in some homes contributed to the problem, a development that is likely to fuel perceptions that the rich are not playing by the same rules as the poor.
Whatever this research reveals, experts predict that extreme weather events like the one on September 8th will become more common, and when they do occur, rich and poor alike will suffer the consequences – no matter what the rules are. although the former have far more opportunities to recover from disasters than the latter.
As Benny Chan, president of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects, points out, Hong Kong has long been vulnerable to typhoons and torrential rains and has “a lot of experience in building such cliff-side houses.”
It also has strict safety standards that have been developed over many years with landslides in mind, he says. So it would have been reasonable – at least until a few weeks ago – to assume that a place like the Redhill Peninsula would be a safe place during a storm.
But the old rules, experts say, may no longer apply.
Chris Lau/CNN
Houses at Redhill Peninsula, a luxury residential development in the Tai Tam area of Hong Kong, on September 13.
For anyone who has invested in the Redhill Peninsula – one of the most expensive neighborhoods in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the world – this may be an uncomfortable realization.
The properties here have the appeal and cachet of Los Angeles’ Malibu Coast. They have a distinctive Mediterranean style with alternating colors of cream and pink, and many have French windows overlooking Tai Tam Bay, a picturesque spot with a lush hiking trail nearby and ample shelter for luxury yachts to anchor.
You can spend between $10 million and $20 million for a home that’s 2,400 to 3,600 square feet (and pay rent of up to $20,000 per month). At least they were able to do so before the recent downpour. Local real estate agents say the storm’s impact on home prices is a “sensitive” issue for some in the community.
When CNN visited Redhill last week, sports cars and SUVs bearing Porsche, Land Rover and Ferrari logos were among the vehicles driving past the palm-lined entrance, where a security guard blocked the crowd of gathered journalists from entering like an impenetrable wall .
According to a real estate agent with more than two decades of experience selling real estate, the area’s real draw is its tight-knit community.
“There is an international school and the kids can hang out at home after school,” said the agent, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the issue. She was referring to the Hong Kong International School, one of the most prestigious in the city.
“Almost every home has an ocean view,” she said, adding that while the property is far from the hustle and bustle of the city, it offers a convenient shuttle bus service to transport residents to the area.
The three homes most affected by the landslides ranged in size from 2,700 to 3,000 square feet and were each valued at up to $11.5 million, the agent said.
She added that she has noticed a change in sentiment in recent days and expects anyone trying to sell a property – particularly one near the sea – to hold off for a while.
“It’s sensitive timing,” she said.
Tyrone Siu/Portal
Flooded streets after heavy rains in Hong Kong on September 8th.
Heavy rain is not uncommon in Hong Kong, especially in the summer months.
Still, recent weather conditions have left many worried as two consecutive typhoons struck the region in less than two weeks.
Typhoon Saola, which hit Hong Kong on September 1, was the strongest typhoon to hit the city in five years. A week later, the remnants of Typhoon Haikui triggered the rains that caused the problems in Redhill, triggering dozens of landslides and leaving large parts of the city under water.
Scientists predict climate change will only cause such weather events to become more common, and some are calling for Hong Kong to rethink its rain mitigation strategy.
Leung Wing-mo, former deputy director of the city’s weather observatory, told public broadcaster RTHK that rainstorms are becoming increasingly difficult to predict due to climate change.
“Record-breaking events have occurred much, much more frequently in recent decades… This is a clear indication that climate change is playing a role. In fact, climate change is making extreme weather events even more extreme,” Leung said.
With that in mind, architects and civil engineers are also demanding that the city review standards set decades ago for hillside buildings, including many luxury villas.
The city experienced some of its worst landslides in the 1970s, including one that collapsed a number of residential buildings in the city’s upscale Mid-Levels district, causing 67 deaths.
The same heavy rain that caused the Mid-Levels landslide in 1972 also triggered the collapse of a hill in a district of Hong Kong’s Kowloon Peninsula, decimating a residential area in Sau Mai Ping and causing an additional 71 deaths.
University of Hong Kong civil engineering professor Ray Su said the series of catastrophic incidents prompted the government at the time to reinforce slopes across the city, making Hong Kong one of the most resilient places to landslides and floods in the world.
But some engineers worry that safety regulations that seemed adequate in the past may no longer be enough.
Su noted that some of the city’s low-rise buildings are still built on shallow foundations.
In extreme rain scenarios, “they will take a big hit if there are landslides,” he said.
Chris Lau/CNN
The Redhill Plaza shopping center in the Tai Tam district of Hong Kong on September 13, 2023.
Making matters worse in the case of the Redhill Peninsula, authorities suspect that some of the properties at risk may not have even adhered to the old rules.
After the storm, government authorities discovered what they believe may have been illegal changes to the three Redhill properties – changes that experts say may have contributed to the disaster.
This proposal is something of a third rail problem in a city that has had a series of scandals involving wealthy individuals and politicians converting their properties and violating building codes by making illegal expansions that skeptics say benefit the less well-off wouldn’t get through.
According to the Hong Kong Building Authority, the unauthorized conversions include basements, a swimming pool and a three-story extension.
The issue is so controversial that even Mayor John Lee has stepped in and promised that the government will investigate and prosecute anyone found to have violated building codes.
“The Redhill Peninsula landslide has already shown us that part of the estate poses risks, so relevant authorities will be targeting the estate for inspections,” he said last week.
Preliminary investigations revealed that a retaining wall in one of the houses was demolished.
Chan, of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects, said the change could destabilize the structure of the cliff below and severely affect the drainage of the ground below, which could ultimately lead to landslides.
“The more water is trapped, the less able the slope is to maintain high steepness,” Chan said.
He said while painful lessons in the past had led to high standards in the construction of retaining walls and drainage systems, the old requirements were slowly losing relevance.
“These standards were set a long time ago,” he said.
“Can current standards withstand this much rain? It is time for the government to take another look at them,” he added.
Chan Kim-ching, founder of the Liber Research Community, a non-governmental organization focused on reviewing authorities’ land policies, said the security problems arising from illegal changes went far beyond the Redhill cases.
His group recently compared contracts available in public records and identified at least 173 individual homes across the city suspected of violations on public property.
“We have investigated it in the past because it is about the fair use of public resources. It never occurred to us that this was an issue that would threaten public safety,” he said.
“It’s like a ticking time bomb,” Chan said.