Super Typhoon Saola is heading toward China’s southwest coast, threatening Hong Kong, neighboring China’s Guangong province and Macau, where the tropical cyclone alert level is at 10, the highest on the scale, according to Macau Meteorological Services and geophysicists ( SMG). There is also a red storm surge warning.
The typhoon was located about 30 km from Macau in Lisbon at 6 p.m. on Friday, while it was already 2 a.m. in Macay on Saturday and gradually approaching. Hong Kong and Macau use an alert scale of 1, 3, 8, 9 and 10 to classify these weather phenomena taking into account the intensity of the winds. At alert level 9, wind speeds in excess of 118 km/h were expected in Macau, accompanied by gusts in excess of 180 km/h.
China says it could be one of the five strongest typhoons to hit the densely populated Guangdong region since 1949. According to Lusa, Macau is in a state of immediate prevention and has registered one injured person and nearly 150 people seeking refuge in emergency centers. Emergency reception. Around 800,000 people have been evacuated from their homes to safer zones in Hong Kong and Guangdong, according to Portal. In Fujian province, 161,600 people were evacuated this Friday.
Chinese weather services predict that Saola will land on the coast between the cities of Huidong and Taishan. Hong Kong and Macau lie at the center of this strip of land, according to Portal.
Typhoon Saola can reach wind speeds of more than 200 km/h and is expected to make landfall on Friday evening or Saturday morning.
Floods
A red storm surge warning was issued in Macau due to the Saola between 2 and 6 a.m. (seven hours more than in mainland Portugal), meaning that water levels above the pavement are expected to reach levels between 1.5 and 2.5 meters. Cause flooding, according to the portal of the government of the special administrative region of the People’s Republic of China.
In Hong Kong, the storm surge is expected to be up to three meters above normal, according to Portal.
As a precautionary measure, the Hong KongZhuhaiMacau bridge connecting the two areas was closed, the news agency said.
The crossing of the Saola through the Philippines resulted in at least 48,000 displaced people. BERNIE SIPIN DELA CRUZ/EPA
All flights in Hong Kong were also canceled until 3 a.m. (Lisbon time) on Saturday, said Cathay Pacific, the flagship airline of this Asian financial metropolis. According to Portal, more than 300 people were at the airport because of the cancellation of around 460 flights.
Several cities have closed shops, schools and financial markets signs of this were also seen in Macau, where the start of the school year planned for September 1 was postponed, Radio France Internationale reports. Nearly 85,000 fishing boats operating off the coast of Guangdong have returned to port.
In Guangdong province, train services were suspended until 11 a.m. on Saturday (Portuguese time), while the city of Shenzhen, home to more than 17 million people, closed schools and suspended and closed financial markets, trading and other services, warning that this was possible will be exposed to damaging winds through Saturday. Air traffic was also stopped.
According to Portal, the Taishan nuclear power plant in Guangdong has suspended openair operations, transporting atrisk material and putting rescue workers on alert.
The passage of the Saola through the extreme north of the Philippines forced the evacuation of 48,000 people.
The problems caused by hurricanes are more or less severe depending on the time they spend over land, climatologist Shao Sun of the University of California, Irvine, told Portal.
To illustrate, he cited the example of Tropical Storm Rumbia in 2018, which claimed 53 lives and damaged 32,246 homes in China. The damage amounted to US$5,360 million (US$4,931 million): “Despite its moderate intensity, it lasted exceptionally long. a total of 132 hours and spent more than three days over mainland China territory.”