Macau is prepared for floods

“We have warnings and last year we launched a new storm surge warning system”

Climate changes will increase the occurrence of floods in Macau, but the city is prepared for such events, director of the Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) Fong Soi Kun told reporters yesterday.
“Macau is quite well prepared for tropical cyclones. We have warnings and last year we launched a new storm surge warning system,” he said.
In 2009, Typhoon Hagupit left the Inner Harbour and many low-lying districts waterlogged, affecting 2,000 residences and shops.
Fong explained that in Macau, floods and typhoons are more or less related.
“Everything depends on the typhoon track and the tide. If the typhoon is approaching during a low tide season it doesn’t cause flooding. On the other hand, if there is a very high tide, it could cause flooding in the city,” he explained.
The weather forecaster said that floods happen in Macau each five or ten years and the only thing SMG can do is to put more effort into the warning system.
“We can do nothing else besides warning people,” he claimed.
Following Typhoon Hagupit the SMG set up a new warning system for storm surge, which is focused on heavy rains. “The alert will not be issued for all city zones, but only for the most affected ones. We will send a text message to the shops owners warning them to be prepared,” he said.
The project is still in a testing phase and over 100 stores have participated in it. Over 2000 are expected to be included in the testing initiatives.
Along with the climate changing, Macau can expect a temperature increase and rising tides. “As everyone knows, Macau has a lot of landfills and it has a very low coast level. With the rising tides, flooding will happen more often,” he said.

Typhoons to get stronger

Fong was speaking on the sidelines of the opening of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) Typhoon Committee Integrated Workshop on “Urban Flood Risk Management in a Changing Climate”. The five-day workshop is currently taking place at the Macau Science Centre with more than 70 experts from 14 Typhoon Committee participating.
Representative of the WMO Koji Kuroiwa told the press that although the total number is not expected to increase, the ratio of typhoon and hurricanes would go up. As a result, more floods would occur.
“Due to the increase of tropical cyclones along with the rise of the sea level it would result in intense and devastating storm surge to occur in the future. What’s important in the moment is to have more detailed forecast,” he advised.
The Asia and Pacific Region is one of the most vulnerable areas for natural disasters. From 1950 to 2005, 54 percent (approximately 3 million people) of the worldwide death toll from natural disasters occurred in this region and many of these deaths are due to typhoon-related impacts. Apart from this, the windstorms and floods associated with typhoon-related impacts account for 57 percent (approximately USD 33.5 billion) of the economic losses in this region in the same period.