WEATHER
Typhoon warning possible
The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) yesterday said it could issue a sea warning for Typhoon Khanun tomorrow, as the strengthening storm heads toward Japan’s Ryukyu Islands. As of 2pm, the center of Khanun, which formed in the west Pacific on Friday and strengthened into a typhoon yesterday afternoon, was 1,270km east-southeast of Taiwan’s southernmost tip, Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), moving at 24kph in a north-northwesterly direction, it said. Khanun had a radius of 220km and it was packing maximum sustained winds of 119kph with gusts of up to 155kph, the bureau said. While Khanun’s impact on Taiwan remains unclear, forecasters said that the outer rim of the typhoon could bring showers to northern and southern parts of the nation from tomorrow. The rain hot spots are likely to concentrate in central and southern Taiwan from Wednesday, the CWB said.
TRANSPORTATION
MRT to rent out umbrellas
Taipei MRT is to introduce an umbrella-sharing service in all its stations at the end of next month, the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said on Thursday. The umbrella service is to be provided at the Taipei MRT’s 117 stations by Raingo, a contractor of the new sharing scheme, it said. The new service is planned to allow people to rent an umbrella and return it at a different MRT station, it said. The rental fee for an umbrella is planned to be set at NT$19 per hour with a 24-hour cap of NT$39, it said, adding that if the umbrella is not returned after one day, an additional NT$20 would be charged every 24 hours thereafter. The service could provide the company with an additional annual income of NT$3 million (US$95,572), TRTC said. After making a net profit of NT$189 million in 2019, the company posted annual losses ranging from NT$12 million to NT$514 million from 2020 to 2022.
DOMESTIC
Man drowns in north
A 43-year-old man died and three children were rescued in separate incidents on Taiwan’s northern coast yesterday, local authorities said. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a report at 11:46am about the possible drowning of a father and son at a beach near Wanli Fishing Port (萬里漁港). They found the 43-year-old father, surnamed Tsai (蔡), without vital signs and attempted to administer CPR, while the son was conscious. Both were transported by ambulance to Chang Gung Memorial Hospital’s branch in Keelung, where the father was pronounced dead, it said. The department said it had also responded to a separate drowning scare near Cape Fuguei (富貴角) Lighthouse in which two girls aged 11 and 9 were pulled out to sea by a large wave. By the time paramedics reached the area, a group of adults had already rescued the children. Both were later taken to be treated at Mackay Memorial Hospital’s Tamsui branch, it said.
Foreign tourists who purchase a seven-day Taiwan Pass are to get a second one free of charge as part of a government bid to boost tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. A pair of Taiwan Passes is priced at NT$5,000 (US$156.44), an agency staff member said, adding that the passes can be used separately. The pass can be used in many of Taiwan’s major cities and to travel to several tourist resorts. It expires seven days after it is first used. The pass is a three-in-one package covering the high-speed rail system, mass rapid transport (MRT) services and the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle services,
Drinking a lot of water or milk would not help a person who has ingested terbufos, a toxic chemical that has been identified as the likely cause of three deaths, a health expert said yesterday. An 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) and two others died this week after eating millet dumplings with snails that Tseng had made. Tseng died on Tuesday and others ate the leftovers when they went to her home to mourn her death that evening. Twelve people became ill after eating the dumplings following Tseng’s death. Their symptoms included vomiting and convulsions. Six were hospitalized, with two of them
DIVA-READY: The city’s deadline for the repairs is one day before pop star Jody Chiang is to perform at the Taipei Dome for the city’s Double Ten National Day celebrations The Taipei City Government has asked Farglory Group (遠雄集團) to repair serious water leaks in the Taipei Dome before Friday next week, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday, following complaints that many areas at the stadium were leaking during two baseball games over the weekend. The dome on Saturday and Sunday hosted two games in tribute to CTBC Brothers’ star Chou Szu-chi (周思齊) ahead of his retirement from the CPBL. The games each attracted about 40,000 people, filling the stadium to capacity. However, amid heavy rain, many people reported water leaking on some seats, at the entrance and exit areas, and the
BIG collection: The herbarium holds more than 560,000 specimens, from the Japanese colonial period to the present, including the Wulai azalea, which is now extinct in the wild The largest collection of plant specimens in Taiwan, the Taipei Botanical Garden’s herbarium, is celebrating its 100th anniversary with an exhibition that opened on Friday. The herbarium provides critical historical documents for botanists and is the first of its kind in Taiwan, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute director Tseng Yen-hsueh (曾彥學) said. It is housed in a two-story red brick building, which opened during 1924. At the time, it stored 30,000 plant specimens from almost 6,000 species, including Taiwanese plant samples collected by Tomitaro Makino, the “father of Japanese botany,” Tseng said. The herbarium collection has grown in the century since its