A sudden rainstorm occurred in Macau on Monday when flooding hit many districts, and even affected the revamped Red Market, and two civic leaders expressed their concerns yesterday about the impact of flooding caused by torrential rain on residents and businesses, urging the government to enhance the city’s floodwater diversions.
On Monday morning, heavy rain and thunderstorms occurred in Macau under the influence of a summer monsoon. The Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) issued a “red” rainstorm warning which remained in force for three hours, with flooding occurring in various neighbourhoods, including the Praia do Manduco, Inner Harbour, Areia Preta and Mong Ha areas, and also in some underpasses. The Red Market, which only reopened last Thursday after two years of renovations, was affected by water gushing out of its drains and leaks appearing in some of its water supply pipes.
According to the local weather station, during the three hours when the “red” rainstorm warning was in effect on Monday morning, the highest hourly rainfall of 65 millimetres was recorded in the peninsula, 39.2 millimetres in Taipa and 41.8 millimetres in Coloane, while the highest flooding height of 26 centimetres was recorded in Rua da Praia do Manduco.
The government-appointed Central District Community Service Consultative Council held yesterday its monthly meeting at the Patane Market Municipal Complex, during which counsellor Chu Oi Lei said that due to torrential rain, flooding also occurred in the city centre on Monday, which even happened in Rua da Praia do Manduco twice in a month, causing residents to worry that the city’s flooding problem may become more serious if there is the need for an even higher level of rainstorm warning. Consequently, she urged the government to further examine the causes of flooding in different districts to find out whether the flooding is caused by the insufficient draining capacity of the infrastructure or obstruction of the drainage system so that targeted planning and remedial work can be carried out in the course of expanding the city’s drainage system and enhancing desilting work in the future.
Chu also said in recent years the government has been actively carrying out drainage channel expansion and box culvert works in flood-prone districts, and the “Inner Harbour South Rainwater Pumping Station” construction project in the vicinity of Rua da Praia do Manduco are also underway, but Chu pointed out, they will only be effective upon completion, adding that during the drainage improvement works, due to the extensive excavation of the road surface, the normal drainage function may be affected during heavy rainstorms, which may also easily lead to the accumulation of water. Therefore, she said, the relevant public entities should properly supervise and manage the construction works, with a view to completing them as soon as possible so that they can demonstrate their effectiveness the earlier the better, thereby minimising the drainage construction projects’ impact on the residents.
She also urged the government to step up law enforcement to combat the problem of the illegal discharge of sewage.
In terms of the heavy rainwater influx at ground level in the revamped Red Market, counsellor Leong Chon Kit called on the government to step up the improvement of the market’s drainage system or even enhance its drainage capacity to minimise the occurrence of such incidents.
60 pct of rainwater pumping station project at Inner Harbour completed
Meanwhile, the Public Works Bureau (DSOP) said in a statement yesterday that the “Inner Harbour South Rainwater Pumping Station” construction project is proceeding in a “comprehensive and orderly” manner, with more than 60 percent of the overall work completed, noting that the rainwater pumping station in phase one of the project is already being equipped and tested, with 317.2 metres of box culverts having been completed in phase two in Rua do Almirante Sérgio, while 289 metres of box culverts have been completed in phase three from Rua do Dr Lourenço Pereira Marques to Rua das Lorchas, with the cumulative number of completed box culverts accounting for 58.33 percent of its total length.
According to the Civil Mart website, box culverts are an important infrastructure component used in many construction projects, particularly for drainage and transportation purposes. A box culvert is a precast concrete structure that is shaped like a rectangle or a square. It is typically used to allow water to flow underneath roads and other structures.
The bureau said that the pumping station project was now at its peak construction stage, adding that it has been urging the respective contractors to keep a close watch on the site conditions to ensure the safety of the construction work and the surrounding areas, promising to carry out regular inspections of the drainage system and additional pumping facilities in the areas affected by the construction work to minimise flooding during the construction period due to seasonal conditions.
The government-appointed Central Community Service Consultative Council holds a regular meeting at the Patane Municipal Market Complex yesterday. – Photo: Yuki Lei
