The heavy rain has many people of Guangdong thinking of the future. For some this means wondering when the rain will finally end (the forecast says tomorrow, April 4), but for others this means protecting their future investments from sustaining any harm: children that continue to go to school in the pouring rain.

While parents will often worry about the future even on a clear day, the ominous facts speak for themselves. The total number of missing and dead attributed to the recent rainstorm has now risen to 31, reported ChinaNews.

Parents have gone online to complain about needing to wait until a code red weather alert until classes can be officially suspended, and has been a hotly-discussed topic.

Guangdong Sina reports that government officials from the Provincial Emergencies Department, Provincial Weather Office and the Provincial Education Department are now considering the establishment of a high-level weather warning system that will automatically close schools upon reaching a certain level.

This system is tentatively scheduled to be implemented at the end of this year. An anonymous representive of the weather office revealed to Sina that the new system will closely mirror that already established in Hong Kong. Over in the SAR, there are clear levels of alerts from the Hong Kong Observatory: Amber Rainstorm, Red Rainstorm, and Black Rainstorm, which closes schools and businesses. Citizens are notified in advance so they have time to get home and out of the storm.

The current system has been criticized as unwieldy. Says Principal Liu of Yahetang Elementary school in Yuexiu District:

“We wait for the district educational office to be notified, which in turn waits for notification from the city, while the city educational office makes its decision based upon the weather warning system. All these different levels just delay the process; when we finally notify parents on their cell phones, we’ve already missed the most opportune time to tell them.”

Hong Kong is a place with many standards and systems, so we’ll wait to see what else is adopted from that place across the border. As such, faster escalators may be in store for Guangdong province.

Photo: Sina