The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) issued a land warning yesterday morning for Typhoon Morakot, and warned residents in the north and northeast that the storm was packing powerful winds and torrential rain.
At press time, all local governments had declared a typhoon day for today except the Kinmen and Lienchiang county governments, which said work and classes will continue as usual.
At 9:15pm, the center of the typhoon was located 350km off the coast of Ilan. It was moving northwesterly at 20kph, packing winds up to 144kph and had a radius of 250km.
PHOTO: WALLY SANTANA, AP
If Morakot maintains its course and continues to gain strength, the system would cover Taiwan proper in its entirety early today, meteorologists said.
Residents in mountainous areas in northern and eastern Taiwan should be alert for landslides and people should stay away from the coastline, the bureau said.
Morakot has the potential to become a stronger typhoon, said Chen Yi-liang (陳怡良), division chief at the bureau’s forecast center.
The approach of Morakot brought heavy rain to northern regions yesterday, including Taipei County and Hsinchu County.
More than 130mm of rain fell in mountainous areas in these counties, the bureau said, adding that more rain was expected as the typhoon moved closer to the east coast.
Domestic airlines canceled around 20 flights to outlying islands yesterday, while some shipping firms canceled services to Makung (馬公), Matsu, Liouciou (琉球) and Green Island (綠島).
Travelers were advised to check with their airlines about possible flight schedule changes today.
All 18 forest recreational areas will be closed today, including Hohuanshan (合歡山), Taipingshan (太平山), Aowanda (奧萬大) and Kenting (墾丁).
Freeway toll stations in any area that has declared a typhoon day will stop collecting tolls starting at 12am for 24 hours.
Meanwhile, the Central Personnel Administration (CPA) said yesterday it would take legal action against the creators of a fake CPA Web site that announced the suspension of work and classes today several hours before the official announcement was made shortly after 4pm.
The fake Web site had been up for at least three hours by then, claiming that local governments in north, east and central Taiwan had declared today a Typhoon Day at 1:12pm.
The CPA said it reported the incident to the police. It reminded the public that the decision to declare a typhoon day was up to local governments, not the CPA.
In related news, the Council of Agriculture said that 377.46 tonnes of emergency stocks of rice and vegetables have been distributed to 18 cities and counties to meet possible food shortages.
The public should not panic about potential shortages because the nation’s second harvest was recently collected.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN, MEGGIE LU AND AGENCIES
NOVEMBER ELECTIONS: The KMT urged the CECC to exclude Taiwanese from the arrivals cap, as they would lose their right to vote if they could not return by July 26 The COVID-19-related border control measures and the cap on the number of international arrivals are not being eased, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday as it reported 112 imported cases of the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 of SARS-CoV-2. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is CECC spokesperson, said a meeting was held yesterday morning in which the Cabinet decided that current border control measures would remain in place. He said the main considerations were global COVID-19 cases increasing 21 percent last week, imported cases of Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 continuing to be detected
Samsung Electronics Co yesterday commenced mass production of 3-nanometer chips that are more powerful and efficient than predecessors, beating rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to a key milestone in the race to build the most advanced chips in the world. South Korea’s largest company said in a statement that it was beginning with 3-nanometer semiconductors for high-performance and specialized low-power computing applications before expanding to mobile processors. By applying so-called Gate-All-Around transistor architecture, Samsung’s 3-nanometer products reduce power consumption by up to 45 percent and improve performance by 23 percent compared with 5-nanometer chips, it said. Samsung’s push to be first
‘STRONG SUPPORT’: Liberal International expressed concern over Chinese incursions into Taiwan’s airspace, saying they could undermine regional peace Liberal International on Saturday passed a “World Today Resolution” recognizing the threat that China poses to Taiwan, while supporting Taipei’s inclusion in international organizations. Liberal International was established in 1947 as a federation of liberal political parties from around the world. Last week, it held its 63rd congress in Sofia, Bulgaria, which was attended by 221 representatives from 58 countries. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), in her capacity as chairperson of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), delivered a speech in a pre-recorded video at the congress’ opening on Thursday. DPP spokeswoman Hsieh Pei-fen (謝佩芬) yesterday said the party, which has been a member of
HYBRID THREAT: Lauding the alliance’s global vision in facing up to China’s challenges, MOFA said that Taiwan would continue to bolster cooperation with democratic allies NATO has for the first time singled out China as one of its strategic priorities for the next decade, warning about its growing military ambitions, confrontational rhetoric toward Taiwan and other neighbors, and increasingly close ties to Russia. In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it appreciates the alliance’s global vision in facing up squarely to the systemic challenges posed by China. While Russia’s war against Ukraine has dominated discussions at the NATO summit in Madrid, China on Wednesday earned a place among the Western alliance’s most worrying security concerns. “China is substantially building up its military forces, including nuclear