Residents stockpile goods as Typhoon Sinlaku nears

Typhoon-hardened Taipei residents flocked to stores to stock up on instant noodles, batteries and bottled water yesterday as Typhoon Sinlaku steered toward Taiwan.

"Although the typhoon's not here yet, we did see an increased number of customers tonight [Thursday]," said Chan Ming-sung (詹明松), manager of a Wellcome supermarket (頂好超市) located on Chunghsiao East Road. "Currently [as of 9pm] leaf vegetables have already sold out."

Tsai Yu-jen (蔡裕人), chief operation officer of Wellcome's 114-store chain, said sales the previous day surged by 30 percent from that of a week earlier.

"Some customers began to stock up on dry goods including cookies, instant noodles and batteries last night, and we saw a growing number of customers turning up to shop for fresh vegetables, fruits and meat this morning," Tsai said.

"We're certainly optimistic about the pre-typhoon sales, but it's hard to make any predictions at this moment."

William Yang (楊維仁), a senior supervisor at RT-Mart Ltd (大潤發量販店) in Neihu, Taipei, said the 20-store wholesaler saw an uptick in customers arrivals last night, as the media predicted business in northern Taiwan may come to a halt today.

At RT-Mart, batteries, flashlights, vegetables, instant noodles, canned food and bottled water all disappeared from the store's shelves, Yang said. "Sales of these items have increased by about 10 percent so far."

Central Weather Bureau officials said Typhoon Sinlaku is expected to hit northeast Taiwan later today. It is the biggest storm to threaten northern Taiwan this year.

But many people at RT-Mart interviewed by the Taipei Times weren't worried. Only two out of 10 said their purchases were in preparation for the tropical storm. "It's always better to have something than nothing," said a young lady surnamed Chang.

She was pushing a full cart.

"Although the number of shoppers out and about may continue to rise over the next day or two, the potential for a significant jump in sales is unlikely ... until the wind and rain kicks up," Yang said.

Flood and typhoon savvy Taipei residents learned after last year's severe damage from Typhoon Nari, with many heading off early to government offices to get free sandbags yesterday.

The city government's Bureau of Public Works opened five construction sites where citizens could make their own sandbags for free. The back-breaking task of shoveling comes compliments of government workers.

Meanwhile, sales of reuseable sandbags were slow at RT-Mart, with the firm selling around 20 bags in the last two days, according to Yang Chuan-lu (楊全錄), an RT-Mart official.

The reusable burlap sandbags -- priced at NT$299 each -- contain a super-absorbent chemical packet that can supposedly suck up 25kg of water, Yang said.

As for power generators and pumps, Khan Lee (李侃翰), manager of B&Q's (特力屋) on Chung Cheng Road in Shihlin, said demand was normal as of yesterday.