Typhoon Bilis is expected to continue to blast through Taiwan today bringing with it torrential rains and high winds. It is expected to also trigger mudflows in areas severely stricken by the 921 earthquake last year.
The influence of Typhoon Bilis, which approached the island early yesterday, will remain until it moves into the Taiwan Strait and then on to China around noon today, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said last night. The major effects of the typhoon will dissipate by this evening.
Offices and schools in Taipei and Kaohsiung will be closed today due to the impact of the storm.
PHOTO: CHANG YOU-WEI, LIBERTY TIMES
The strengthening typhoon, classed as a category five -- there is no category six -- and the strongest in Asia this year, has already caused one death and was expected to bring widespread damage to the island with fierce winds of up to 235kph.
The diameter of the typhoon was measured at around 600km, more than the entire 400km length of Taiwan.
Typhoon Bilis was predicted to bring torrential rains, which have led to fears of mudslides in Taichung and Nantou counties, where the land was left particularly susceptible after the 921 earthquake.
According to estimates by the Council of Agriculture (農委會), 370 creeks and rivers in many vulnerable areas in central Taiwan, including Taichung and Nantou counties, are prone to the threat of mudslides. Residents living downstream on these rivers may be asked to move away to avoid risk.
A worker, identified as Lin Mao-tsai (林茂財), was killed yesterday morning by a mudslide while working on the construction of a retaining wall at a garbage site in Taipei County.
Meanwhile, Cheng Yi-Chieh (陳怡傑), a doctor, was reported missing after going hiking in Taroko Gorge in Hualien County. Another nine people shooting a documentary film in Kaoshiung County were stranded in the mountains.
Schools and offices across the island closed yesterday at noon as soon as the storm front hit Hualien and Taitung on the east coast.
The CWB compared the danger and possible damage the island faces as a result of Typhoon Bilis to that caused by Typhoon Tim which hit Taiwan in 1994. Tim left 17 dead, six missing and 70 injured.
Meanwhile, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday telephoned Premier Tang Fei (唐飛) from Burkina Faso to check that preparations had been made prior to the arrival of the typhoon.
"The route of this new typhoon will be similar to Typhoon Tim in 1994, which caused great damage in Taiwan," said Deputy Secretary-general to the Presidential Office, Eugene Chien (簡又新).
Chien said that the president woke up both Tang and Vice Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) early yesterday morning Taiwan time, after attending a national banquet held by Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore.
ACCOUNTABILITY: The incident, which occured at a Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store in Taichung, was allegedly caused by a gas explosion on the 12th floor Shin Kong Group (新光集團) president Richard Wu (吳昕陽) yesterday said the company would take responsibility for an apparent gas explosion that resulted in four deaths and 26 injuries at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang Store in Taichung yesterday. The Taichung Fire Bureau at 11:33am yesterday received a report saying that people were injured after an explosion at the department store on Section 3 of Taiwan Boulevard in Taichung’s Situn District (西屯). It sent 56 ambulances and 136 paramedics to the site, with the people injured sent to Cheng Ching Hospital’s Chung Kang Branch, Wuri Lin Shin Hospital, Taichung Veterans General Hospital or Chung
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
There is no need for one country to control the semiconductor industry, which is complex and needs a division of labor, Taiwan’s top technology official said yesterday after US President Donald Trump criticized the nation’s chip dominance. Trump repeated claims on Thursday that Taiwan had taken the industry and he wanted it back in the US, saying he aimed to restore US chip manufacturing. National Science and Technology Council Minister Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) did not name Trump in a Facebook post, but referred to President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments on Friday that Taiwan would be a reliable partner in the