Disaster struck in Sau Mau Ping at 12:45 pm on 18 June 1972. The fill slope supporting Hiu Kwong Street collapsed after days of heavy rains. Thousands of tons of soil washed downhill, destroying 78 squatter huts. The disaster resulted in 71 fatalities.
At around 9 pm on 18 June 1972 a disastrous landslide began at a hillside above Po Shan Road of the Mid-levels. The huge mass of debris crossed Conduit Road, sweeping away an already-evacuated six-storey building in its path. The debris continued to slide downhill and completely destroyed the 12-storey apartment block, Kotewall Court. In the process, the top four storeys of an adjacent newly constructed but unoccupied building, Greenview Gardens, were torn off. The disaster killed 67 people.
On 25 August 1976, the fill slope behind Block 9 of Sau Mau Ping Estate in Kwun Tong collapsed during the heavy rain. The wet mud poured into the lower floors of the building, killing 18 people. The failed slope in 1976 was only 200 metres from the site of the devastating landslide four years earlier.
The landslide above Baguio Villas in Victoria Road on 8 May 1992 involved the collapse of a masonry retaining wall and a fill platform behind. Debris from the collapse descended over 100 metres. A seven-year-old child inside an apartment and a government engineer were killed. More than 1,500 residents were evacuated.
A landslide occurred below Block D of Kwun Lung Lau in Kennedy Town on 23 July 1994. The ground that failed included part of the masonry wall and slope below Block D. Pedestrians on the footpath below were hit by about 1,000 cubic metres of debris. The landslide killed five people, and 2,000 families were evacuated.
On 13 August 1995 at about 1:00 am, over 25,000 tonnes of mud tumbled down the hillside in Fei Tsui Road, Chai Wan, opposite Chai Wan Baptist Church during a heavy rain brought by severe tropical storm Helen. A 16-year-old apprentice plumber and his father were caught in the landslide, which carried them across the street into the Church. The pastor rescued the father but the son was trapped in a mound of mud and died. In this landslide, about 14,000 cubic metres of debris had been released and the incident was one of the largest reported failures of a cut slope in Hong Kong.
A few hours after the Fei Tsui Road landslide, around 4:00 am on 13 August 1995, another major landslide took place on the hillside above Shum Wan Road, Aberdeen. The landslide caused a 30-metre long section of Nam Long Shan Road to collapse. The debris travelled across Shum Wan Road and shoved three shipyards and a factory into the sea. A couple were killed in this incident.
In the morning of 2 July 1997, a landslide occurred on a slope of the Ten Thousand Buddhas' Monastery, Shatin. The Kun Yam Din was damaged and a small hut nearby buried by the landslide debris. The landslide resulted in one fatality.
A total of 229 landslides were reported as a result of the heavy rainstorms from 16 to 22 August 2005. On 20 August 2005, a landslide with an estimated volume of about 400 cubic metres occurred on a hillside at Fu Yung Shan Tsuen, Tsuen Wan. The landslide destroyed a squatter structure and some sections of footpaths. The landslide resulted in one fatality and permanent evacuation of four squatter structures.
Some 35 landslides occurred on a natural hillside above North Lantau Highway (NLH) in the morning of 7 June 2008. The failure volume ranged from less than 5 cubic metres to 400 cubic metres. Debris reached NLH and blocked the road drainage system, resulting in serious flooding of a 200-metre section of the road. The NLH, the critical transport corridor to the Hong Kong International Airport, had been closed for about 16 hours.
A landslide with an estimated volume of about 300 cubic metres occurred at Cafeteria Old Beach, Tuen Mun, in the morning of 7 June 2008. The landslide debris, comprising soil and large segments of the collapsed concrete wall, hit a squatter structure at the toe of the slope and demolished part of it. Two persons were killed in this incident.
Hong Kong saw a historical rainstorm on 7 June 2008. The maximum 4-hour rolling rainfall of 384mm recorded at Lantau Island west was found to have a return period 1,000 years. About 360 landslides were reported to the GEO. This rainstorm also triggered more than 2,000 natural terrain landslides in the remote areas, which were not reported to the Government.
A landslide occurred on a natural hillside above Sai Kung Sai Wan Road, Sai Kung East Country Park, in the morning of 21 May 2016. The landslide mainly involved a rock slide with a source volume of about 2,100 m3. The debris travelled about 500 m down the hill, eventually coming to rest in a natural drainage line above High Island Reservoir. The fill slope below supporting Sai Kung Sai Wan Road was partly eroded, undermining the road and resulting in road closure for several months for repair works.
In the evening of 29 August 2018, clusters of landslides took place on the natural hillsides above the section of Fan Kam Road near Ta Shek Wu Tsuen. The failure source volume ranged from 200 cubic metres to 800 cubic metres. Both lanes of Fan Kam Road, the main road connecting Fanling and Kam Tin, had temporarily been closed for 4 days due to inundation of debris and muddy water on the road.
A landslide occurred at the natural terrain above South Lantau Road near Cheung Sha Beach, Lantau Island, in the morning of 28 June 2021 when a red rainstorm was in force. The failure volume was about 2000 cubic meters and the landslide debris was covering about 100 m long of South Lantau Road near Cheung Sha Beach. A taxi stand shelter was damaged and South Lantau Road was temporarily closed for a day.
In the afternoon of 5 November 2021, a landslide of about 1600 cubic metres occurred at Peak Road, Mid-levels of Hong Kong Island. The landslide debris travelled downhill for over 300 m. Some of the caisson piles supporting the Peak Road were exposed following the landslide. This caused closure of 2 lanes of Peak Road for a week.
From 7 to 8 September 2023, Hong Kong is hit by a century's heavy rain, which caused widespread landslides. The Hong Kong Observatory issued a black rainstorm warning signal at 11:05 pm on 7 September 2023. On 8 September 2023, there was a landslide of over 3000 cubic meters on Yiu Hing Road in Shau Kei Wan. The incident resulted in the closure of two lanes of Yiu Hing Road.
From 7 to 8 September 2023, Hong Kong is hit by a century's heavy rain, which caused widespread landslides. The Hong Kong Observatory issued a black rainstorm warning signal at 11:05 pm on 7 September 2023. On 8 September 2023, there was a landslide at a fill slope at Shek O Road, causing one lane to collapse and leading to the closure of the only road to and from Shek O and Tai Long Wan for more than a day.
