Typhoon Mindulle is expected to cause serious damage to southern Taiwan today and residents should avoid carrying out activities in coastal areas in the southern, southeastern and southwestern parts of the island, according to the Central Weather Bureau yesterday.
All city and county governments announced last night, however, that offices and schools would remain open today.
Nevertheless, late last night the typhoon appeared to have changed course and was likely to head north, directly up the island, perhaps the most dangerous path that it could take.
PHOTO: CHIANG CHIH-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Yesterday morning, the bureau issued a land warning for areas including the Hengchun Peninsula, Taitung, Green Island and Orchid Island. In addition, vessels operating in the Bashi Channel, the waters off southeast Taiwan, or in the southern part of the Taiwan Strait should be on high alert against the typhoon, weather forecasters said.
According to the bureau, with a radius of 250km and packing maximum sustained winds of up to 180kph, Mindulle made landfall on Hengchun Peninsula last night and would further bring heavy rains to southern and eastern Taiwan today.
Yesterday morning, more than 20 fishing boats carrying more than 1,000 foreign fishermen were allowed to enter port in Tungkang, Pingtung County, to take shelter from the storm.
Since Kaohsiung was also listed as one of the seriously affected areas as a result of Typhoon Mindulle, Kaohsiung City Government yesterday set up a special task force to tackle possible emergencies.
Residents were reminded of the danger of entering certain coastal areas, including Shitzuwan (西子灣) beach, Chichin and some fishing ports. Those who unwisely insist on carrying out activities near the beach and have to be rescued by the city's task force will be requested to reimburse the government, in addition to being fined up to NT$250,000, officials said yesterday.
Mayor Frank Hsieh (
Due to strong winds and high waves outside Kaohsiung Harbor, the ferry services between Kaohsiung and offshore Penghu County were canceled.
The Soil and Water Conservation Bureau under the Council of Agriculture yesterday also established a special task force to monitor rainfall at potentially dangerous sites in mountainous areas and deal with possible emergencies involving landslides and mudflows.
Wu said that people living at such sites should pay serious attention to rainfall readings.
"Once the danger level is reached, evacuation under local government instructions will be the safest choice," the bureau's director-general Wu Huei-long (
Meanwhile, Water Resources Agency (WRA) Deputy Director Chen Shen-hsien (陳伸賢) yesterday ordered all river administrators be on the alert.
Earlier this year, it was discovered that 95 steel water gates around the nation had been stolen. By yesterday, only four water gates were not in place. However, WRA officials said the situation should cause no immediate danger.
"We've made 49 mobile pumpers available in order to mitigate the danger of possible flooding," Chen said.
Chen said abundant rainfall might ease the impending drought in the south.
Memories of the floods that inundated half of Taipei City during the passage of Typhoon Nari in September, 2001, spurred the Taipei City Government to be on the alert. To determine whether flood prevention measures have been implemented, Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
"The city government will announce potential danger areas vulnerable to floods once the Central Weather Bureau lists Taipei as a seriously affected place," Ma said.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —