Macau Wednesday recorded the highest amount of rainfall, 323 mm, since 1982.
During the nine-hour hoisting of the rainstorm warning signal a number of areas in the city suffered severe flooding and nearly half of the city’s bus routes were affected by the downpour that some locals sarcastically joked turned Macau into “Asia’s Venice,” The Macau Post Daily reports today.
The result of the torrential rain was that local shop owners said that they had been badly hit financially while residents complained about severe flooding causing buses to be re-routed, which led to long waits at bus stops.
During the downpour, the Fire Service received 105 calls for help, including about two fires, two landslides and 50 cases of flooding, according a CB statement.
The government vowed to review the current procedures to respond to emergency situations during unexpected situations such as rainstorms and check whether the infrastructure to prevent flooding is good enough.
Macau’s observatory hoisted the thunderstorm warning at 00:25 a.m. Wednesday. After 30 minutes it replaced it with the rainstorm warning, which means that the amount of rainfall over the city, in general, is expected to be about 50mm in the following two hours.
According to observatory, the highest amount of precipitation recorded in the downpour stood at 323mm, the highest recorded since 1982 and the fourth highest since the local observatory started keeping records in 1952.
During Wednesday’s downpour, schools closed for the morning, giving pupils a much welcome half day off. All re-opened after lunch.(macaunews)
