Last Friday a storm swept through two villages in the New Territories, destroying (摧毁)fourteen homes. Seven others were so badly damaged (被损坏的) that their owners had to leave them, and fifteen others had broken windows or broken roofs. One person was killed, several were badly hurt and taken to hospital, and a number of other people received smaller hurt. Altogether over two hundred people were homeless after the storm.
A farmer, Mr. Tan, said that the storm began early in the morning and lasted for over an hour. "I was eating with my wife and children," he said, "when we heard a loud noise. A few minutes later the house fell down on top of us. We tried our best to climb out but then I saw that one of my children was missing. I went back inside and found him, safe but very frightened."
Mrs. Woo said that her husband had just left for work when she felt that her house was moving. She ran outside at once with her children. "There was no time to take anything," she said. "A few minutes later, the roof came down."
Soldiers helped to take people out of the flooded(水淹的) area and the welfare department (福利机构) provided them with food, clothes and shelter.
