Macau has emerged relatively unscathed from the first typhoon 8 of the year, reopening its connections to Hong Kong late on Monday and resuming flights, as authorities lowered the signal to 3. Bridges linking the Macau peninsula to Taipa and Cotai also reopened at 8pm on Monday, when the signal was lowered.
Typhoon Talim was the first typhoon 8 to hit the territory this year, and saw wind speeds of up to 180 kilometers per hour.
Despite the ferry and bridge links to Hong Kong closing down, the airport grounding over 100 flights and the closure of the bridges between the peninsula and Taipa, casinos remained open for the duration of the typhoon – as has been the common practice in the SAR.
The Hengqin port, linking Macau and the neighboring mainland Chinese island of Hengqin also resumed operations after a brief closure at 8pm on Monday.
Movement on the streets and in the Cotai area could be seen returning to normal by late afternoon, even before the signal 8 was lowered, as individuals returned to work and went about normal life.
While Typhoon Talim marked the beginning of the tropical storm season for Macau, a much stronger typhoon is already predicted to make landfall almost directly on Macau early next week, with concerns over its strength – which is expected to highly exceed that of Typhoon Talim.
