Pouring rain and gusty winds brought by Typhoon Krosa assailed the nation yesterday, disrupting transportation and forcing hundreds of people to evacuate their homes.
The coast line of the Taiwan Railway Administration was shut down at 8:30am yesterday when the electric wire linking Tungshiau (通宵) and Yuanli (苑裡) was severed by a falling electricity tower, forcing trains to operate on the mountain line instead.
Express trains heading toward Ilan and Hualien counties before 6pm were all canceled.
PHOTO: AFP
High speed trains operating in the morning were delayed by 20 minutes to 30 minutes as inclement weather conditions forced the trains to slow down at some sections along the route.
The Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp said in the afternoon that trains departing after 5pm had all been canceled.
The company intended to resume normal operations today at noon.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUN, TAIPEI TIMES
The Taipei City MRT and bus systems were in operation yesterday. However, because of strong winds, service on the Muzha Line, Xinbeitou Branch Line, Xiaobitan Branch and part of the Danshui Line was suspended from 3:30pm yesterday, the Taipei City Department of Transportation said.
Meanwhile, four inbound international flights and 30 outbound flights were canceled. More than 280 domestic flights suffered the same fate.
Strong winds felled wooden fences on the northeastern section of Taipei Songshan Airport yesterday morning.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUN, TAIPEI TIMES
The airport's two enclosing walls facing Binjiang Street (
As of press time, the typhoon had damaged six provincial highways, one farm road and 27 country roads.
Buffeted by winds, a container truck on the Formosa Freeway (National Freeway No. 3) flipped over and fell on the shoulder, killing a passenger and injuring another.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUN, TAIPEI TIMES
Foehn winds and a tornado were reported in Taitung County yesterday, as the local temperature climbed to 36.3oC.
As of 4pm yesterday, the National Fire Agency said 820 people had been told to leave their homes, including 176 residents from Dashi (
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUN, TAIPEI TIMES
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on