Macau – 24 August 2017 –
Many hotels in gambling capital Macau are struggling to keep operating without water and electricity after Typhoon Hato left a trail of destruction.
Eight died in Macau, where local media showed cars underwater and people swimming along what are normally streets. The enclave’s famed mega-casinos were running on backup generators, Agence France-Presse reported.
The enclave’s sprawling Venetian casino resort was running on back-up power and without air conditioning or proper lighting, according to one source, while residents took to social media to complain about city-wide power and mobile phone network outages.
A member of staff at the Grand Lisboa Hotel in central Macau told AFP that it was still without electricity following the typhoon. “There is no water and no electricity,” the person said, adding that both the restaurant and casino were closed.
Footage showed people holding plastic buckets queuing on the sidewalks to collect drinking water.
Ferry services between Macau and neighbouring Hong Kong resumed on Thursday morning but passengers said they experienced delays. It is still peak summer season in Hong Kong, and hotel cancellations are flooding into Macau