Shenzhen scrambles as Super Typhoon Ragasa nears China’s tech hub: ‘wartime readiness’
Storm’s approach sees demand for supplies surge, inundating important delivery services, after southern Chinese city put on highest alert
With the highest alert level declared, officials in Shenzhen – the southern manufacturing powerhouse with a reputation as China’s Silicon Valley – sounded the alarm for “wartime readiness”.
Residents responded by scrambling to stockpile supplies, boarding up or taping windows, and bracing for what forecasters are saying could be one of the most ferocious storms to hit the region in years.
Amid the rush, online delivery platforms struggled to keep up, inundated by orders from anxious residents keen on securing sufficient food, water and daily necessities to wait out the storm and its potential aftermath.
A staff member with delivery service provider Meituan’s online-to-offline Xiaoxiang Supermarket told the Post: “We’re still working through a huge backlog of orders and don’t know when we’ll be able to finish packing them – there are just too many.”
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Doris Yin, a 24-year-old originally from the inland Chinese city of Chengdu, now working at a tech start-up in Shenzhen, said she planned to stockpile food on Sunday but regretted not acting fast enough.
“I have never experienced a typhoon in my life,” she said, adding that she “started to feel anxious” when a colleague told her how fast the supermarkets were being cleared out.
On Tuesday morning, she tried to buy fresh vegetables through delivery platforms. Freshippo – a hi-tech grocery chain owned by e-commerce giant Alibaba – was the only nearby option still with stock, but it was unable to fulfil her order due to surging demand. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.