Heavy rain lashed Hong Kong on Friday evening, with the Observatory issuing rainstorm signals for nearly three hours and warning earlier that the city could be hit by hail.

The forecaster said at 6.30pm that hail could affect Hong Kong shortly. It first issued the amber rainstorm alert, the lowest level in a three-tier system at 7.10pm before upgrading it to the red warning at 7.40pm. The middle-level signal was downgraded to amber at 8.40pm.

The amber signal was cancelled at 9.10pm.

The red warning signifies that heavy rain exceeding 50mm in an hour has fallen or is expected to fall generally over Hong Kong and is likely to continue.

The Observatory said it recorded violent gusts exceeding 90km/h (56mph) at Peng Chau at around 7.40pm.