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.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary