The Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau holds a briefing on the “Storm Surge Warning”

In view of the passage of Typhoon Hagupit in September last year brought extensive flooding to many areas in Macao, starting from April this year, the Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) established a new warning system namely “Storm Surge Warning”, aiming to forecast any significant flooding due to tropical cyclone. As the typhoon season is approaching, a media briefing was held on 30th June, 2009, at 11:00 am at the SMG Hall. Presence in the briefing were the SMG Director Dr. Fong Soi Kun, the Deputy Director Mr. António Viseu and the Chief of the Meteorological Divison Ms. Leong Ka Cheng. During the briefing a detailed introduction of the “Storm Surge Warning” system was presented in order to enhance citizen’s knowledge about it. The “Storm Surge Warning” is issued in accordance with the forecast of the levels of flooding associated with tropical cyclones. The warning is classified into 3 degrees: the 1st degree (Yellow) – the water level is expected to be below 0.5 meter above road level; the 2nd degree (Red) – the water level is expected to be 0.5 to 1 meter from road level; the 3rd degree (Black) – the water level is expected to be above 1 meter from road level (All the figures in these warnings are referred to the road level of Porto Interior). When flooding is forecasted during the storm surge event, SMG will issue the relative warning 6 to 12 hours prior to the occurrence of the flooding, allowing citizens to take appropriate precautionary measures in time. In the aftermath of the Typhoon Hagupit, SMG immediately study the current flood forecast mechanism, as well as to discuss with other government departments and representatives of associations in order to collect opinions for the improvement of warnings. SMG carefully assessed their suggestions and established the new “Storm Surge Warning” system, hoping that citizens are able to recognize the flooding news more effectively and adopt suitable precautionary measures. A site-visit of the “Water Level and Tide Monitoring Network Central System” at SMG was arranged after the media briefing. Aside from SMG, the said monitoring station was designed and set up jointly with several government departments, including the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau, the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau, the Maritime Bureau and the Cartography and Cadastre Bureau. There are 3 types of stations: the land station, the tide station and the wave station. All the data from these stations will be collected by SMG and to distribute to other government departments afterwards. In Macau there are totally 9 land stations, 2 tide stations and 1 wave station, which are used to monitor the height of the water level, the tide level and the wave respectively.