National Taiwan Typhoon Day

Today is Monday, July 18th, 2005. It has been declared a Taiwan National Typhoon Day!! Yipeeee!!! What that means for me is no work today! Since all businesses, schools, etc. are closed. The typhoon started last night after I went to sleep and kept waking up in the night to sounds of heavy rain and wind blowing. This morning it is pretty much the same and it feels like dusk because it is dark outside. So far I have seen more impressive typhoon rain and wind on days which weren't called typhoon days however I think the eye has not hit as yet and the wind is starting to pick up even more as I am writing this. I just went outside to see if the convenience store on the corner was open and it was so I got some water. There were two trees that had fallen over on my street and many potted plants. There were no scooters parked on the sidewalk because usually scooters have fallen over on their sides. There was rope strung up along the side of the road so that if any more trees fall they will not fall into the buildings.

Here are some pics of Typhoon Haitang from a weather station.


Here is a picture Typhoon Haitang over SE Asia.


Here is a picture of Typhoon Haitang over Taiwan (its so big you can't even see Taiwan).

Heres two newspaper articles from the two english newspapers in Taiwan.

Schools and workplaces across the country are to close today as weather officials expect torrential rain and wind nationwide
By Chiu Yu-Tzu
STAFF REPORTER WITH AGENCIES
Monday, Jul 18, 2005,Page 1

Haitang, the worst typhoon to approach Taiwan in five years, began affecting the nation's weather yesterday afternoon, with strong winds and heavy rain reported across the country.

More rain and high winds are expected today and tomorrow before the storm heads toward southern China.

Officials at the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) yesterday issued nationwide heavy rain warnings and urged people to avoid mountainous areas, rivers and the seaside for the next two days.

Yesterday afternoon, the eastern counties of Hualien, Ilan and Taitung reported the strongest wind and heaviest rain. But from Taipei to Hengchuen Peninsula in the south, many people had trouble standing upright outdoors amid strong gusts.

With winds of up to 234kph, Haitang was expected to pound the east coast between Ilan and Hualien Counties especially hard.

Forecasters said yesterday that Haitang was moving at a speed of 17kph and that it would slow down further after making landfall.

By Tuesday, it may be moving as slowly as 6kph as it leaves Taiwan headed for southern China.

"Due to Haitang's slow movement, devastating and heavy rains are expected to be seen in mountain areas around the whole island," said George Lu (呂國臣), a division chief at the bureau's Weather Forecast Center.

The bureau predicts that Haitang might bring cumulative rainfall exceeding 1,300mm in mountains in northern, central, and southern parts of Taiwan.

Forecasters said that for residents in central Taiwan, who have been suffering from devastating mudflows and landslides for years, that amount of rainfall could be catastrophic.

Since Haitang's route is similar to 1996's devastating Typhoon Herb, which claimed 51 lives, governments at all levels have gone to high alert and have set up disaster relief centers.

Yesterday morning, the Council of Agriculture (COA) issued mudflow and landslide warnings, listing 1,420 rivers in danger of flooding. The council's warnings affect about 26,000 residents in 159 townships in 19 counties. Council officials said that a Web site showing the danger of floods and mudflows, fema.swcb.gov.tw, offers emergency information about evacuations.

China Post
Government agencies around Taiwan have mobilized all resources to cope with Typhoon Haitang while more than half of the island's city and county government offices, along with schools, will be closed today. The financial markets will also be shut down.

Haitang, seen as one of the most threatening typhoons to hit Taiwan in recent years, started dumping torrential rains in northern Taiwan beginning in the afternoon yesterday.

The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said the winds brought by Haitang, the name of a Chinese flower often used to describe beautiful women, touched down on the northern and eastern coasts of the island at around 8 p.m.

The center of the typhoon was 260 kilometers southeast of Taiwan's eastern county of Hualien at a speed of 12 km per hour in the evening.

With maximum sustained winds of 191 km/h (119 mph) and gusts of up to 234 km/h (145 mph), Haitang had weakened to a Category 4 storm from the maximum Category 5, but remains highly dangerous.

Haitang is expected to reach the northeastern corner of Taiwan at around noon today with an radius covering the whole island. The weather bureau's forecasts show Haitang's eye passing slightly south of Taipei.

It will move to the northwestern corner of the island by the evening before heading towards China if it stays on its present course. The Taipei City Government declared the closure of public offices, schools and banks today, effectively shutting the island's stock and foreign exchange markets as well.

But international forex dealings will not be affected, as the Central Bank of China will provide immediate assistance to any financial institutions or enterprises in urgent need of foreign currencies.

Most local governments in the north and east made similar announcements about closures.

In Taipei, car owners are allowed to park their vehicles on the elevated roads -- with the exception of the newly finished Xinyi Expressway -- in the city to prevent possible flooding of their vehicles.

But they will have to move the vehicles before 7 a.m. on the day when public offices resume normal operations.

Airlines have already canceled all domestic flights plus some international flights.

With the coordination of the Central Disaster Relief Center, 19 air search planes and 58 Coast Guard ships and Navy warships are among the teams ready for emergency missions.

About 1,500 tourists stranded on Green Island plus another 50 on Lanyu (Orchid Island) off southeastern Taiwan were provided with temporary shelter.

Residents in low lying areas have been asked to guard against floods while those in mountainous regions have been urged to beware of mudslides.

The Council of Agriculture (COA) issued alerts for 159 towns and the weather bureau raised its rainfall forecast to up to 1,300 millimeters (52 inches) for some areas, up from 900 millimeters previously.

COA officials urged consumers not to panic and overpurchase vegetables, fruits, and foodstuffs so as to prevent retailers and vendors from jacking up prices.

Hundreds of residents were evacuated from several remote villages where people have previously been buried alive by landslides.

Meanwhile, thousands of fishing vessels sought shelter in harbors around the island's perimeter. At least seven fishing boats from Hong Kong took shelter at the offshore Penghu County.