The summer is hot. Since the Observatory issued a hot weather warning on the 15th of this month, it has been maintained for more than 9 days as of yesterday, and the temperature in the urban area is expected to reach 33 degrees Celsius to 35 degrees Celsius in the next week. The scorching sun is like a fire, and many people choose to stay indoors to escape the heat. However, nearly 220,000 grassroots residents living in subdivided housing in Hong Kong stay at home, but they feel like they are in a melting pot, which is inhumane. According to a survey, in the past week, nearly 70% of rooftop houses, cage houses, and prefab houses in many districts have had indoor temperatures that are hotter than those outside. In Kwun Tong, even more rooftop houses have recorded a high temperature of 41 degrees Celsius indoors, which is higher than the highest outdoor temperature recorded by the Observatory that day. 35.2 degrees, nearly 6 degrees Celsius higher. Some people would rather live in the rough on the street, and some households in subdivided housing said that the high temperature living environment made their daughter suffer from depression, and they would rather be hospitalized than go home.
4 zone recording 38 ℃ above hot water
The Observatory has issued severe hot weather warnings for several days in a row. Yesterday afternoon, the urban temperature recorded a temperature of 36.1 degrees Celsius, the hottest July since records began in 1884, and the hottest record for this year. According to regional weather, as of 10 p.m. yesterday, 4 districts recorded a high temperature of 38 degrees Celsius or above, of which Sheung Shui was as high as 39 degrees Celsius, making it the hottest in Hong Kong. The Observatory also predicted that the weather will be generally fine and very hot in Hong Kong for 9 days from today, with the temperature in the urban area reaching 33 degrees Celsius to 35 degrees Celsius.
Directly drying the hot air on the roof of the iron plate
The hot weather continues, but nearly 70% of unsuitable homes are hotter indoors than outdoors. The Hong Kong Association of Community Organizations has placed thermometers in 10 caged houses, subdivided flats, boardrooms and rooftop flats in Sham Shui Po, Mong Kok, Kwun Tong, Tsuen Wan, Causeway Bay and other places, and residents record the temperature daily. There were consecutive heavy rains in the beginning of this month, and the Observatory recorded a maximum temperature of about 30 degrees Celsius in the urban area. However, the maximum temperature in the urban area of Hong Kong has climbed again in the past week. Among them, the highest temperature recorded by the Observatory last Thursday (21st) was 35.2 degrees Celsius. The indoor temperature of the rooftop house in Tong was as high as 41 degrees Celsius, a difference of 5.8 degrees Celsius; while last Saturday (23rd) the indoor temperature of the rooftop house in Tsuen Wan recorded 40 degrees Celsius, the highest temperature recorded by the observatory on that day was only 34.9 degrees Celsius, a difference of 5.1 degrees Celsius . The Social Association explained that because the iron plate of the roof was directly exposed to the sun, the door was full of hot air, and only hot water came out of the water pipe.
Turn on the air conditioner and the thermometer still explodes
Mrs. Yu, who has lived in a sub-unit in Sham Shui Po for 4 years, said that she lives with her husband and two daughters in a 150-square-foot sub-unit. Our reporter visited yesterday and found that Mrs. Yu’s house had two air conditioners and a fan. Although the air conditioner was “full” at the scene, it failed to degrade the heat from the direct sunlight from her daughter’s room. The reporter used a thermometer to measure the temperature of 37 degrees Celsius even in the kitchen without a window, which was farthest from the sun. At the position where Yu Taixiu was studying on the upper floor of the bunk bed, the thermometer had “bursted” and showed a temperature as high as 45 degrees Celsius.
Even though Mrs. Yu used the heat shield to block the heat in the hot summer at the bed position, ceiling and window of the little girl, it only helped a little. She recalled that the high-achieving young girl used to suffer from the heat in the house, and in the cramped and noisy environment, not only did she often fight with her sister “for air conditioning”, she also suffered from depression a few years ago and had to send hospital for treatment. After being admitted to the hospital, the thin girl even refused to go home for several months on the grounds that “the hospital is too comfortable”.
Yu’s wife even more frankly said, “In summer, the bed is not only hot, but also very cramped, and it will not be smooth.” Mrs. Yu only hoped that she could work hard to meet her daughter’s request, and also hoped that the government could subsidize the lower class living in subdivided housing.
