The Central Weather Bureau issued sea warnings yesterday afternoon and land warnings around midnight as Typhoon Haitang strengthened and started to accelerate toward Taiwan.
Traveling at a speed of 20kph to 26kph, the outer rim of Haitang is expected to be felt in Hualieng (
"Given the typhoon's strength, the entire island should stay on high alert," Daniel Wu (
With maximum sustained winds of 184kph and gusts of up to 227kph, by yesterday Haitang was a dangerous Category 4 storm on the five-step storm scale and capable of causing severe damage.
It is expected to strengthen further and become a maximum Category 5 storm today.
Meteorologist George Lu (
"With Haitang's velocity varying only slightly, we predict that it will be very close to coastal areas this afternoon and affect the island in the evening," he said.
The storm is expected to sweep over Taiwan between today and tomorrow before heading toward China -- if it keeps to its present course.
Forecasters said that the influence of a high-pressure cell in the Pacific Ocean would be offset by cooling afternoon showers in the north of the country.
The weather bureau also urged residents in mountainous areas in the north and northeast to be on alert for landslides, mudflows and torrential rains.
Meanwhile, wholesale prices of vegetables and fruits are expected to rise over the next few days as a result of the storm and so many people took advantage of their day off yesterday to head to stores and stock up on vegetables, fruit, dry food, flashlights and batteries.
The Council of Agriculture said that there is still plenty of frozen vegetables in stock and it asked consumers not to panic over possible storm damage to crops and price hikes.
"We will distribute the stock to the market depending on the market's demand after the storm. The public's fear of high-priced vegetables after a typhoon is simply psychological and not based on fact," it said in a statement.
Wholesale prices for vegetables, however, had already risen to an average of NT$29 per kilogram in the Taipei Markets Administration Office, up from NT$26 on Friday, the council said.
The Environmental Protection Administration warned that the rains brought by Haitang may carry mud and pollute the drinking water. It suggested people store some water, and make sure to boil water before drinking.
The weather bureau did have some good news yesterday. Despite Haitang's impending arrival, the bureau believes fewer typhoons will hit Taiwan this year.
"Since the subtropical high barometric pressure in the west Pacific is growing stronger this summer, there will be fewer typhoons reaching Taiwan than in the past, when we averaged three to four," Wu said.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS