Storms prompt code red alert
- Source: Global Times
- [15:09 August 18 2010]
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Expo ferries were also halted during the storms, while local ferries, including those linking downtown Shanghai and Chongming Island, also suspended operations.
Elsewhere around the city, several flights were delayed and cancelled at Hongqiao International Airport, leaving numerous passengers stranded for hours at the airport Tuesday.
"Airplanes that were supposed to land at Hongqiao were forced to reroute to Pudong due to the storms," Wu Yunzhou, a spokesman for the Shanghai Airport Authority, told the Global Times Tuesday afternoon. "Many planes have been delayed at Hongqiao in order to ensure passenger safety."
The torrential rains also caused headaches for shop owners and local residents around the city. Local media reported Tuesday that nearly a dozen stores on Maoming Road North were flooded, while 20-something apartments on Nanjing Road West suffered similar flooding problems.
According to Sang Baoliang, deputy director of the Shanghai Flood Control Administration, some 1,000 workers were dispatched to various locations in different pockets of the city to help with drainage problems.
"There were about a dozen roads downtown that flooded over, but not too seriously," he told the Global Times Tuesday. "But those roads were taken care of within an hour."
Sang added that Minhang district saw some more severe flooding, but mostly in areas that were undergoing construction. He said that authorities have been preparing to respond to rainstorms since May 1, when the city entered its rainy season.
"Even though the storms today haven't surpassed last year's most severe one in terms of precipitation, it was pretty serious given the short time period of the storms," he added.
Still, mobility problems caused by the rainstorms remained even after the rains teetered off late Tuesday afternoon.
"The bus I take to get home from work every day at Zhongshan Park station was nearly 20 minutes late today," Xie Fen, a local resident, told the Global Times Tuesday. "The traffic was so backed up that it took twice as long as normally to get to my stop."
Local weather authorities predict another rainstorm for this afternoon, with the possibility of lightning and thunderstorms.
