HOMEOWNERS in three high-end residential estates in the Shenzhen Bay area have denied rumors that they had taken shelter in a nearby school and the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center while Super Typhoon Mangkhut was wreaking havoc on the city, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.

The daily sought confirmation from relevant sources Monday and found the so-called “owners of luxurious housing estates” in the pictures that had gone viral on social media were actually workers on nearby construction sites and people who live in some old residential estates.

Additionally, it was not uncovered whether the residents living in the high-rise buildings in the two local communities had been evacuated due to potential safety hazards caused by the typhoon.

According to the property manager of a high-end residential estate surnamed Bai, an owner had come to find the housekeeper at 3 p.m. Sunday, saying that the building was shaking badly. It was at that time that the property management staffers heard the rumors that some of the owners had taken shelter in a nearby school.

“We refuted the rumors to the owner right away and told other owners on WeChat that they should neither panic nor believe the hearsay,” Bai was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

No safety or quality problems were found in the buildings of the residential estate when the typhoon hit and most of the damage was to trees, said Bai.

A staffer with the Shekou Subdistrict Office said the subdistrict has nine emergency shelters and 1,845 people were resettled during the typhoon. More than 95 percent of them were workers on construction sites.

There was only one case of relocating residents in the Shenzhen Bay area during the typhoon. According to a staffer with the Yuehai Subdistrict Office, 192 households in four buildings of a residential estate were relocated to a nearby hotel due to safety hazards posed by a tower crane.

(Zhang Yu)