A big impact was brought by typhoon Hato, lack of electricity and water brought a big inconvenience to senior people in Macao. With the help of "Pin An Tong", two senior ladies were interviewed by this report about their experience during the typhoon.

 

Hato, a very strong typhoon assaulted the coast of China, bringing massive winds and flooding to the city of Macao on August 23,2017.

 

The typhoon, with pernicious winds of more than 200 kmph, came to Macao on Wednesday morning, making a landfall in the morning and causing an extensive power blackout in many places of Macao.

Surging waves, flooding and collapsed scaffolding across the island were shown from photos and videos posted on social media during the typhoon. Many places lacked electricity and water. Also, many large casinos, hospitals and CTM in Macao were reported to be on back-up generators.

 

Mrs Ku is a 60-year-old lady with disability. Although she has a son and a daughter, she still lives alone. Her husband left home to live with another woman. Her son ran away from home for a year and she had lost contact with him. But her daughter did visit her with her husband on the day when Hato hit Macao. She said, "I was really afraid because the strong wind seemed like to pull me away from the house, so I had to hold something to make myself stable."

 

Her home was without electricity for several days, but luckily the supply of water did not stop. The windows of her room were blown off. This typhoon made her memorize another strong typhoon which was 53 years ago. She was not in Macao at that time, but she said it was really a strong typhoon.

 

According to the Macao government, it was the strongest typhoon to assault the city in 53 years. It brought a big impact throughout the city. 10 people were reportedly killed in the disaster. Among the dead, there was a 62-year-old man who died from a fall, a 45- year-old man who was hit by a car, also a 30 years old man who was trapped under a wall.

 

Mrs Wong is a 92-year-old lady who also lives by herself. She said that on the day of the typhoon, she saw the glass windows of her balcony ruptured in the middle. The strong wind swept her entrance door as it opened. When she went to the entrance trying to close the door she was stuck there. She finally escaped but her foot was hurt and started to bleed. Luckily the building administrator and a neighbor saw her and told her come out of the home as it was too dangerous to stay there. But she could not walk, so she just sat on the stairs. She said she still felt pain on the day of the interview. She guessed the reason was that she lost too much blood.

 

The government strived to resume the order in the city of 600,000 people as some residents queued for water from fire hydrants. Hillocks of rubbish and ruins including felled trees were cleared from streets, and some buildings required extra repairs after windows were destroyed  by the typhoon.

 

The impact of Hato will linger in residents' minds for a long time.