Hong Kong’s subdivided flats are turning into heat traps. But what’s the fix?

Welfare advocates call on authorities to take action as tenants grapple with steeper energy bills to ward off the heatwave The temperature in her home was above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) at around 5pm on Tuesday, higher than the 33 degrees recorded at the Hong Kong Observatory’s monitoring station in the same district. The temperature in her home only dropped slightly to 37.8 degrees after switching on two fans and an air conditioner. “The electricity bill will soar if I always switch on the air conditioning … However, I have no choice but to turn it on,” the 68-year-old said. Yang, who lives with her daughter and a grandchild, pays about HK$650 (US$83) a month for electricity. To save on her bills, she walks around the neighbourhood and rests at a nearby shopping centre or wet market. She is not alone in suffering under the recent heatwave. Temperatures have generally reached 33 degrees and triggered an ongoing very hot weather warning since last Wednesday morning.

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