‘Better safe than sorry,’ Hong Kong’s No 2 official says over school suspension

Chief Secretary Eric Chan addresses concerns from parents over earlier decision to suspend day schools on Friday, as morning sees calm weather

Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki, who chairs the steering committee on handling extreme weather, said the government had decided to halt certain classes due to the local forecaster predicting that Hong Kong could have faced its fifth-largest rainfall, or 390mm a day, in an “extreme” case.

The predictions factored in the effects of remnants of then tropical cyclone Danas, which brought heavy showers and thunderstorms to the city.