Macau issued this Monday, at 4:00 a.m. (9:00 p.m. on Sunday in Lisbon), an alert signal 1 for the approach of Typhoon Haikui, 28 hours after the last alert was lowered due to Super Typhoon Saola.
At 5:00 a.m. (10:00 p.m. Sunday in Lisbon), the Haikui was about 680 kilometers east of Macao, traveling at an average speed of 10 kilometers per hour, the Meteorological and Geophysical Service (SMG) said. from Macau.
“The conditions are expected to lead to the conclusion that Macao will be affected later,” the SMG said.
The tropical storm warning scale is made up of signals 1, 3, 8, 9 and 10, whose emission depends on the proximity of the storm and the intensity of the wind.
The typhoon has already hit the east coast of the island of Taiwan and, if it maintains its track, it should enter the South China Sea today and then head towards Fujian or Guangdong provinces in east China.
Haikui, the first typhoon to pass directly over Taiwan in four years, forced authorities to evacuate some 3,000 people from high-risk areas in the east of the island and suspend operations on at least three rail lines.
The Ministry of the Interior reported that more than 2,800 people were evacuated from seven cities in Taiwan, mainly from the mountainous area of Hualien.
Parts of southern Taiwan were under alert for “extremely intense or torrential” rains, which could reach 700 millimeters in some mountainous areas, according to the Spanish news agency EFE.
More than 200 domestic flights were canceled and schools and offices in the south and east of the island were closed.
Macao has reissued Alert Signal 1, just 28 hours after the last alert issued for the passage of Super Typhoon Saola was lowered.
As in mainland China and the neighboring Chinese special administrative region of Hong Kong, Macao even issued the highest alert, level 10, due to Saola, registering 250 people in emergency reception centers and five injured.
The Macao government also decreed the closure of casinos, public services, schools and parking lots, after having canceled more than 200 flights at the international airport.
In September 2018, Typhoon Mangkhut caused 40 injuries and severe flooding in the territory.
A year earlier, Hato, considered the worst typhoon in more than 50 years to hit the territory, caused ten deaths and 240 injuries.
Source: TSF
