The nation must be on high alert as the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said Typhoon Saola would come closer to Taiwan today, bringing torrential rain nationwide.
Amid warnings of heavy rain to come, authorities evacuated nearly 600 residents from New Taipei City (新北市), as well as another 600 from Yilan and Hualien counties, which look set to bear the brunt of the typhoon.
In Taipei City, nearly 100,000 sandbags prepared by the government were snapped up as the CWB called on residents to take special precautions against torrential rain and flooding.
Parts of northeastern Taiwan already reported rainfall of close to 900mm by yesterday afternoon, while the CWB said about one-third of that amount had fallen in suburban Taipei. It could dump more than 1,500mm of rain in northern Taiwan before moving westward toward the Chinese coast late today.
The highest accumulated rainfall was detected in Taipingshan (太平山) in Yilan County, which topped 1,044mm by 8:30pm.
The bureau warned that chances for extremely torrential rain, where the accumulated rainfall could top 350mm within 24 hours, are high in Yilan County, Taipei City, New Taipei City, Hsinchu City and Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Miaoli and Nantou counties, as well as Greater Taichung, Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Hualien counties.
Photo: Pichi Chuang, REUTERS
Torrential rain and strong wind brought by the circumfluence of Saola disrupted the traffic system yesterday. The Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) canceled nine express trains, mainly those operating along North Link Railway and the east coast.
Meanwhile, more than 8,000 railway passengers were delayed along the West Coast as an electricity pole fell at the section near the TRA station in Yangmei (楊梅), Taoyuan County. The railway operator said that days of rain had eroded the pole’s base.
The Directorate-General of Highways (DGH) closed eight sections of road along Highways No. 7, 8, 9 and 11.
Information from the Civil Aeronautics Administration showed that 92 domestic and international flights were either delayed or canceled yesterday.
As of 10pm last night, Keelung City, Taipei City, New Taipei City, Taoyuan County and Hsinchu City had announced that work and classes would be canceled today, with more cities and counties expected to declare typhoon closures. As of 8:40pm yesterday, the center of Saola was 160km off the southeast coast of Yilan. It was moving northwest at 13kph, slightly faster than earlier this week.
The Ministry of National Defense said in a statement issued late on Tuesday that the military has more than 100 camps on standby to accommodate people evacuated from disaster-prone areas as Typhoon Saola approaches.
The camps can hold up to 53,272 evacuees, it said, adding that more than 47,000 servicemen are also ready to respond to emergencies and meet disaster rescue and relief needs, and more than 3,000 military vehicles, 486 water pumps, 37 aircraft and other equipment are ready to be deployed if needed.
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
TAIWAN DEFENSE: The initiative would involve integrating various systems in a fast-paced manner through the use of common software to obstruct a Chinese invasion The first tranche of the US Navy’s “Replicator” initiative aimed at obstructing a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be ready by August, a US Naval Institute (USNI) News report on Tuesday said. The initiative is part of a larger defense strategy for Taiwan, and would involve launching thousands of uncrewed submarines, surface vessels and aerial vehicles around Taiwan to buy the nation and its partners time to assemble a response. The plan was first made public by the Washington Post in June last year, when it cited comments by US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue
Suspected Chinese spies posing as Taiwanese tourists have been arrested for allegedly taking photographs of Philippine Coast Guard ships, local media reported. The suspected spies stayed at a resort in Palawan, where from a secluded location they used their phones to record coast guard ships entering and leaving a base, Philippine TV network GMA said on Wednesday. Palawan is near the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) and other disputed areas of the South China Sea, where tensions have been on the rise between China and the Philippines. The suspects allegedly also used drones without permission and installed cameras on coconut trees in the
RSS