Typhoon update: Signal No. 10 to be issued at 1am Saturday

September 2, 2023

The Weather Bureau has just announced that the highest typhoon signal No. 10 will be hoisted today (Saturday) at 01:00 super as typhoon Saola approaches the region, replacing signal 9 which was hoisted at 23:00 Friday.

According to meteorological sources, the eye of the tropical storm will be closest to Macau around 4 a.m. Saturday – some 20 to 50 km south of Coloane.

More than 220 people took shelter in the government centers. So far, authorities have reported one wounded person due to the tropical storm which has been affecting Macau weather conditions since Friday morning with extensive flooding in the lower areas of the city. Signal 8 was hoisted in the region at 14:00 Friday.

Meanwhile, all casinos closed their doors at 23:00, according to a dispatch Friday by Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng, published in the Official Gazette.

In the neighboring SAR, the Hong Kong Observatory had issued earlier No. 10 hurricane signal, also the highest warning under the city’s weather system. It was the first No. 10 warning since Super Typhoon Mangkhut hit Hong Kong and Macau in 2018.

The observatory said Saola — with maximum sustained winds of 195 kilometers per hour — came its closest to the financial hub at around 11 p.m., skirting about 30 kilometers south of the city’s Tsim Sha Tsui shopping district.

The storm’s eyewall, which surrounds its eye, was moving across the city at night, “posing a high threat” to the territory, it said.

It expected that winds would gradually weaken Saturday as the typhoon moves west along the coast away from Hong Kong.

The observatory warned of serious flooding in coastal areas and said the maximum water level might be similar to when Mangkhut felled trees and tore scaffolding off buildings in the city.

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