Parents unhappy with delayed weather forecaster’s rainstorm reaction

Complaints about the slow reaction of the local weather bureau to yesterday’s heavy rainfall went viral on the Internet, with parents slamming the bureau for causing inconvenience to them.
Yesterday morning, the city recorded a peak rainfall of 80mm. The Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) issued the yellow rainstorm warning signal at 7:10 a.m., and the red rainstorm warning signal at 7:50 a.m.
With most primary and secondary schools commencing at about 8 a.m., many parents were unhappy with the timing of the SMG warnings, criticizing it for not issuing the signals either earlier or later.
The red signal triggered the school suspension mechanism for kindergartens and primary schools.
Many parents complained, as on many similar occasions before, that the SMG did not issue the signal earlier, implying that they would not have sent their children to school had they been given sufficient notice.
Some added that because of the weather bureau’s delayed reaction, their children were soaked when they arrived at school.
In contrast, some social media users stressed that it was not the first time Macau saw such heavy rain. “When we were small, we put on casual wear as we departed for school and brought our uniforms to get changed into once we arrived at school,” one social media user recalled.
Nonetheless, it was worth noting that a social media user wrote on a group that their child’s school had forced them to pick up their child when the signal was on. The parent wrote that they had cited the education bureau’s guidelines on rainstorm warning signals to dispute the school’s call.
The guidelines stipulate that schools should remain open for students under rainstorm signals, implying that students should not be forced to go home.
As of press time, the social media user did not reveal which school it was.
The SMG forecasts that the low-pressure trough will continue to impact Macau in the coming days.