Macau’s casinos are open and major transportation services running again after being shut down late Friday due to Typhoon Saola.
As reported by Inside Asian Gaming, Chief Executive Ho Iat seng issued an order on Friday evening for all casinos to temporarily suspend operations should a typhoon signal higher than T8 be issued. It was confirmed shortly afterwards that typhoon signal T9 would be hoisted at 11pm, thus triggering the Macau-wide casino closure. Authorities also ordered the closure of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB) from 6pm on Friday and the border crossing points between Macau and Zhuhai from 8pm.
However, just as quickly as it arrived Typhoon Saola began moving away and by 6am on Saturday the typhoon signal had been lowered to T8.
Macau’s casinos began reopening from around 8am Saturday, followed by the Qingmao Boundary Control Point and Zhuhai-Macau border gate at 9am. The HKMB and the Hengin border check points both reopened at 2pm.
As for passenger ferry services between Hong Kong and Macau, services were suspended at 11.59pm last Thursday 31 August after the Hong Kong government issued a T8 signal on 31 August. The service resumed at 5pm on Saturday.
IAG has contacted all six Macau concessionaires to confirm if all services and attractions are now operational and to inquire about any potential damage to their properties but was still awaiting a reply at time of publication.
Typhoon Hato, which struck Macau on 23 August 2017, resulted in the death of 10 people and cost the city almost MOP$11.5 billion in economic losses, the government said at the time.
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