00:00Chen Tong reporting there. Let's get more now with Lu Mencian, who's the professor of hydrometeorology at the Hong Kong
00:07University of Science and Technology.
00:09Thank you so much, Professor, for joining us. You're actually in Shanghai at the moment. What's the situation been like
00:15in that region?
00:17Yes. Thank you for having me here today. I actually came to Shanghai two days ago to teach for the
00:27Hong Kong UST Shanghai Center.
00:31Right now, we're still experiencing strong gusts of winds. And actually, over the past two days, we didn't have too
00:39much rain, but the winds were really strong.
00:42So many flights were actually canceled, including my original return flight to Hong Kong this afternoon.
00:49Yeah, there's just been a huge knock-on effect, hasn't there, on millions of passengers and people across the region.
00:55Now, Babi has actually weakened. Does this mean that the worst of the danger has now passed?
01:00Or is the huge amount of moisture that is still in these heavy rain bands still a major concern?
01:06Yes. Unfortunately, I don't think that the situation is, you know, the danger is completely gone.
01:15Because as the Babi is weakening, it doesn't mean its influence is over.
01:20Because we saw it's made landfall. And also in Shanghai, you know, there's a lot of discussions that actually there's
01:29not a lot of rainfall.
01:32But because Babi is a large system and with a broad circulation, so there's still strong moisture transport.
01:42And because it's size and it's still graining a lot of moisture from the ocean and could continuously to cause
01:53a lot of heavy rainfall.
01:54And that means that there still exists some flooding risk, landslides, and possibly severe thunderstorms, also swiping over a wider
02:08area.
02:09So I don't think that, you know, the danger is completely passed.
02:13And indeed, once the storm actually passes, is there still a high risk of flooding and landslides still happening later?
02:22Yes, indeed, because it takes time for hydrological processes to complete.
02:28So there's heavy rainfall persisted for several days.
02:31And then, you know, the watershed will collect the rainfall and converge into the river.
02:37And, you know, there could be delayed in possible floods or, you know, even landslides because the soil could get
02:48moist over the next few days.
02:51And there's still potential risks.
02:54All right. Well, we'll have to leave it there.
02:55But thank you so much for your insights, Professor Lu Mencian from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
03:02Thank you so much.
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