HONG KONG, CHINA - THE Fragrant Harbour's image as a world-class tourist spot has taken a knock after record rainfall led to embarrassing leaks at Hong Kong's airport.

Shops at the recently-built Terminal 2 were forced to attach unsightly sheets of plastic to their ceilings in order to channel the water into buckets and garbage bins on the floor, as emergency repairs failed to stop the flow.

Passengers generally agreed that the leaks had hurt the image of Hong Kong and its world-class airport, reported the South China Morning Post.

Bad weather also led to the closure of the popular Ngong Ping 360 cable car on Lantau island.

It reopened on Tuesday after being closed for two weeks following damage to its cables during a storm, the Post reported. The cable car has been fraught with technical glitches since its opening in 2006.

Just last week, the Hong Kong government had to apologise to tourists who were kicked out of a hotel which was taken over by a city bank due to an unpaid loan.

According to the Post, the 140,000sq m Terminal 2 was supposed to help drive future passenger growth at Chek Lap Kok international airport by easing congestion at the main terminal, which has also suffered leaks, and by providing more check-in facilities.

The second terminal was billed as a "multi-modal transport hub", with coaches to 70 cities and towns in the surrounding region, said the Post. It could handle up to an estimated 15 per cent of the airport's passengers.

Last year, the airport handled 47.8million passengers and 3.7 million tonnes of cargo.

Among some of the worst affected tenants at Terminal 2 were the Travelex money exchange outlet and SKYphoto, which operates a photo finishing and printing shop.

An Airport Authority spokesman said rainwater had seeped in during a record-breaking rainstorm early this month.

The authority said that leaks in the 10-year-old Terminal1 building were probably caused by scratches from tools used during routine maintenance checks.

It was quoted by the Post as saying that checks on the expansive roof for leaks had been hampered by the recent poor weather.

A contractor for Terminal 2, Chun Wo, said it had managed to temporarily "stabilise" the situation, but that work to repair the leaks would not be able to continue until the weather improved.

The contract for Terminal 2 was awarded to a joint venture between Chun Wo and Fujita of Japan.

With scattered showers forecast until Wednesday, the leaky roof at the HK$2.8 billion (S$500 million) Terminal 2 is likely to continue for some time.

Tropical Storm Fengshen, which made landfall in eastern Jiangxi province on Thursday, has brought torrential rains to the city since early this week.

The rainfall dumped by Fengshen or Wind God, helped Hong Kong record its wettest June ever.

The city's reservoirs are now almost full, reported the Post yesterday.

About 138 million cubic metres of water - equivalent to around 56,300 Olympic-size swimming pools - has entered the reservoirs between June 1 and Thursday.