According to a recent statement by the Macau Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG), this month South China suffered the heaviest rainstorms in 20 years, adding that each of Macau’s precipitation testing stations accumulated a total of over 300 millimetres of rainfall over a period of just five days.
South China is a geographical and cultural region that covers the nation’s southernmost part comprising Guangdong and Hainan provinces, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region plus the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
The statement noted that South China was affected by serious rainstorms from last Tuesday to Saturday in which torrential rainfall covered a wide area and lasted for a long time. The statement pointed out that each rain testing station in Macau accumulated over 300 millimetres of rainfall on average, and the station at Dr Sun Yat Sen Municipal Garden in Nape accumulated the highest rainfall of 390 millimetres among all the stations, while the Garden of Tai Tam Hill’s (aka Big Taipa Hill) station measured 373.2-millimetres of rainfall which is 87.2 millimetres more when compared to the average records in May.
The statement underlined that the rainfall last Thursday was the highest cumulative amount in a single day in May since 2013. Over 100 millimetres of rainfall was measured on May 11 and May 12 which was the most rainfall since a similar situation in 1996, the statement added.
The statement highlighted that a number of rainstorm and thunderstorm warnings were issued last week including four Yellow Rainstorm and two Red Rainstorm warnings. The rainstorm warning on May 12 lasted for 16 hours and 10 minutes, which was considered the longest rainstorm warning since the announcement of the current three-level storm warning system (Yellow, Red, and Black) was introduced in September 2020, according to the statement.
According to the statement, the bureau will issue the Yellow, Red, and Black Rainstorm warnings when the cumulative rainfall reaches 20, 50, and 80 millimetres respectively.
The bureau said in the statement that it will keep optimising the warning system by introducing new techniques and strengthening the process of information exchanges with other regions. The statement added that the bureau will also promote storm awareness among the public.
This map released by the Macau Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) recently shows the estimated cumulative precipitation for the period from May 10 to May 14.
