Super Typhoon Maria weakened to a medium-strength typhoon after its approach yesterday and all typhoon-related warnings are to be lifted today, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday.
Maria’s outer edge made landfall yesterday at 5pm, with its center 310km off the coast of Yilan County, the bureau said, adding that contact with land had weakened it.
The storm would no longer pose any danger by about noon and the sea alert would be lifted by evening, the bureau said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City and County, Yilan County, Miaoli County and Lienchiang County have canceled work and classes for today.
Yilan County canceled work and classes after 3pm yesterday, with offices and schools in Taipei closing from 4pm due to the expectation of strong winds and heavy rain between yesterday evening and this morning.
Civil Aeronautics Administration statistics showed that 118 domestic flights were canceled by 6pm yesterday, while 181 cross-strait and international flights were canceled and 24 were delayed.
Seventy-two shipping services across the Taiwan Strait were canceled throughout the day yesterday, the Maritime and Ports Bureau said, adding that 144 shipping services are to be canceled today.
The high-speed rail system operated as scheduled yesterday and is to continue normal operations today, but the Taiwan Railways Administration adjusted schedules for express trains departing after 4pm on the west and east coast lines.
Taipei Rapid Transit Corp increased train services yesterday as some Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) stations were inundated with homebound passengers.
The Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line stopped in-town check-in services at 3pm.
The express train services also closed early, with the last train departing from the Taipei Railway Station at 7pm.
The announcement to cancel work and classes yesterday was made at 10am, as Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) arrived at the city’s grade-one disaster emergency operation center at 9am to host an administrative meeting and monitor disaster prevention efforts.
During the meeting, Taipei Department of Personnel Director Cherng Been-ching (程本清) said the decision to close offices and schools after 4pm was made in coordination with New Taipei City and Keelung.
The wind speed expected between 1pm and 6pm yesterday did not exceed the standard for suspending work and school, but considering that national examinations were to end at about 3pm and winds were forecast to be strong at rush hour, the municipalities decided to suspend school and work at 4pm, Cherng said.
Garbage collection services in Taipei were suspended last night in consideration of the safety of residents and sanitary workers, Taipei Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Liou Ming-lone (劉銘龍) said, adding that the decision whether garbage collection is to be provided today would be announced at 11am.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS