Cherry trees bloomed on the winding road leading to Yangmingshan National Park at the start of the annual Yangmingshan Flower Festival in Taipei yesterday.
This year's festival, which runs through March 2, opened at various locations throughout the city.
In addition to more than 2,000 cherry trees in Yangmingshan National Park, the festival features azaleas, camellias, peach blossoms and hydrangeas, among other plants and flowers.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES
Teddy Kao (高道涵), spokesman for Taipei City's Parks and Street Lights Office, said about 50 percent of the flowers are in full blossom thanks to recent low temperatures, with more flowers expected to bloom during the Lunar New Year holidays.
At yesterday's opening ceremony, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (
He urged the public to take advantage of public transportation to avoid traffic jams around the park during the festival.
Kao suggested that visitors spend a day touring nearby attractions -- including the Lin Yu-tang House and the Shilin Presidential Residence, which is holding a rose show featuring various kinds of roses -- besides enjoying the flower festival.
Taipei City's Transportation Department said that, traffic control will be enforced along Yangde Boulevard. On weekends, a checkpoint will be established at Fuxing Bridge from 6am to 4pm to control vehicles entering the Yangmingshan area.
City-bound traffic will also be controlled at Lane 43 of Yangming Road, Section 1, from noon to 6 pm.
For traffic control information, call 02-2759-9741 and for bus route inquiries 0800-223-650.
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
WARNING: People in coastal areas need to beware of heavy swells and strong winds, and those in mountainous areas should brace for heavy rain, the CWA said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued sea and land warnings for Typhoon Ragasa, forecasting that it would continue to intensify and affect the nation the most today and tomorrow. People in Hualien and Taitung counties, and mountainous areas in Yilan and Pingtung counties, should brace for damage caused by extremely heavy rain brought by the typhoon’s outer rim, as it was upgraded to a super typhoon yesterday morning, the CWA said. As of 5:30pm yesterday, the storm’s center was about 630km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving northwest at 21kph, and its maximum wind speed had reached
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said that it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Ragasa this morning and a land warning at night as it approached Taiwan. Ragasa intensified from a tropical storm into a typhoon at 8am yesterday, the CWA said, adding that at 2pm, it was about 1,110km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The typhoon was moving northwest at 13kph, with sustained winds of up to 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA Web site showed. Forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said that Ragasa was projected to strengthen as it neared the Bashi Channel, with its 200km
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: Hualien and Taitung counties declared today a typhoon day, while schools and offices in parts of Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties are also to close Typhoon Ragasa was forecast to hit its peak strength and come closest to Taiwan from yesterday afternoon through today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Taiwan proper could be out of the typhoon’s radius by midday and the sea warning might be lifted tonight, it added. CWA senior weather specialist Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said that Ragasa’s radius had reached the Hengchun Peninsula by 11am yesterday and was expected to hit Taitung County and Kaohsiung by yesterday evening. Ragasa was forecast to move to Taiwan’s southern offshore areas last night and to its southwestern offshore areas early today, she added. As of 8pm last night,
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