On Sunday, the police appealed to the population to “stock up in advance” on enough water and food for three days. In supermarkets such as San Miu and Royal in the city centre, some shelves were partially empty, with staff working around the clock to restock them.
“We have elderly people and children at home, so I’m stocking up to prepare for the typhoon,” Kitty Ma, a 40-year-old teacher, told Lusa, her eyes fixed on a shelf with limited options of instant noodles.
“I’ve already chosen a lot of vegetables, now I’m going to buy noodles, canned food and frozen meat,” she added, with her basket already full of groceries, enough for two or three days. An employee at the same supermarket, who was continuously restocking the noodle section, said that customer traffic is typical of when a typhoon is approaching.
“People always come to buy pasta, bread and instant food, and the queue at the checkout is always long,” he said, noting that he saw nothing “unusual” this time. At the rival supermarket, San Miu, the bustle was more intense, but Lusa did not notice any empty shelves there.
Not everyone there was specifically there because of the typhoon either. A 30-year-old civil servant surnamed Chan, who was choosing vegetables, said his presence there was not related to the storm and that he had “no intention of stocking up on food”.
“I’m buying food as I would on a normal day. It’s only two or three days. Then everything will go back to normal,” he said, also admitting that he had stored five bottles of water at home. Mandy Chan, a 35-year-old employee who had just left work, shared a similar opinion as she walked through the canned fish aisle.
“I buy what I would normally buy. I buy bread, eggs and canned fish,” she said. Even so, her shopping basket already contained enough food for the two or three days recommended by the authorities.
The Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) announced today in a statement that the supply of fresh food remains “abundant” in Macao, acknowledging that demand “continues to increase” as Ragasa approaches.
“The IAM continues to coordinate and maintain close communication with food importers in Macao to ensure the quality, safety and stable supply of agricultural products such as vegetables and meat, as well as fresh food,” it said.
“The transport of fresh food to Macao remains unchanged, with sufficient quantities supplied to maintain the stability of daily life for Macao residents,” it added.
Macau Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai, who visited low-lying neighbourhoods today, warned of the forecast passage of Ragasa, a super typhoon with a very wide front, whose eye could pass about 100 kilometres from the region on Wednesday.
If its passage coincides with the astronomical high tide, “there is a possibility of flooding comparable to that which occurred during Typhoons Hato and Mangkhut,” the largest in recent years, with waters rising up to five metres at the peak of the expected storm surge [abnormal rise in sea level during a storm, measured as the height of the water above the normal predicted astronomical tide].
In September 2018, Typhoon Mangkhut caused 40 injuries and severe flooding in the territory. A year earlier, Hato, considered the worst typhoon to hit Macau in more than 50 years, caused ten deaths and 240 injuries.
Due to the tropical storm, nursery, primary, secondary and special education classes will be suspended on Tuesday and Wednesday. Public services, with the exception of accident and emergency departments and civil protection services, will also be closed.
Platform with Lusa
