Typhoon Haikui made landfall in Taitung County’s Donghe Township (東河) at 3:40pm yesterday, making it the first major storm to hit Taiwan directly in a little over four years, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday.
The last major storm to hit Taiwan was Severe Tropical Storm Bailu on Aug. 24, 2019.
As of 7:15pm, Haikui was centered 20km east of Tainan and was moving northwest at 9kph, the bureau said, adding that the typhoon covered the east coast south of Hsinchu County, as well as Penghu County.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
Haikui was forecast to gradually weaken, the bureau added.
Bureau senior weather forecaster Liu Yu-chi (劉宇其) said the typhoon had a quite solid structure and a clear eye when it made landfall in Taitung, adding that Green Island (綠島) and Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) experienced strong winds that reached Level 16 on the Beaufort scale.
The bureau detected Level 14 winds in Donghe and Hualien County’s Fuli Township (富里), and Level 13 winds in Taitung County’s Luye (鹿野) and Changbin (長濱) townships, Liu said.
Photo courtesy of Fonglin Police Precinct
Haikui was to move southwest, leave Taiwan at about midnight and move to the south of the Taiwan Strait this afternoon, he said.
The typhoon would slow while heading west toward China today and tomorrow, he said, adding that it would not approach southern China’s coastal areas until after tomorrow afternoon.
However, Haikui’s outer rainbands would continue to affect the weather in Penghu and Kinmen counties, and central and southern Taiwan for the next few days, Liu said.
Photo: I-Hwa Cheng, AFP
The land alert for the typhoon would likely be lifted tomorrow morning, while the sea alert could be lifted later that day, close to midnight, Liu said, adding that the forecast is uncertain.
The chances of Haikui making landfall a second time are very low, he said.
Keelung, Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan, and Yilan and Miaoli counties have announced that work and classes would continue as usual today. Classes and work would continue in Hsinchu city and county, except for in Hsinchui County’s Jianshi Township (尖石), which declared a typhoon day today.
Work and classes were canceled for the remaining cities and counties today.
Haikui disrupted air, sea and ground transportation yesterday, delaying five international flights and causing 228 domestic flights and 51 international flights to be canceled as of 6pm, the Civil Aeronautics Administration said.
The Maritime and Port Bureau said that 151 ferry services between Taiwan and outlying islands were canceled yesterday and would remain canceled today.
The Taiwan Railways Administration yesterday canceled the majority of train services operating along the west coast, east coast and South Link Railway Line.
The Directorate-General of Highways pre-emptively closed sections of highway in mountainous areas, including highways No.7, 7A, 8, 9, 11, 20, 23 and 24.
Uni Airways Co (立榮航空) announced yesterday that it would cancel many of its flights today, except for those between Taipei and Taitung, Taipei and Lienchiang County, Taichung and Lienchiang County’s Nangan Airport, and flights departing after 12pm from Taipei or Taichung.
Tigerair Taiwan Ltd (台灣虎航) announced that it would cancel its IT280 and IT281 round trip flights between Kaohsiung and Tokyo Narita International Airport today.
The high-speed rail system would continue to operate today, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp said.
Bureau data showed that 188 tropical storms or typhoons made landfall in Taiwan from 1911 to 2021, most of which landed on the east coast between Yilan and Hualien counties. Only tropical storm Linfa in 2009 and Typhoon Meranti in 2016 made landfall in Kinmen County.
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
UNITED: The other candidates congratulated Cheng on her win, saying they hoped the new chair could bring the party to victory in the elections next year and in 2028 Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday won the party’s chair election with 65,122 votes, or 50.15 percent of the votes. It was the first time Cheng, 55, ran for the top KMT post, and she is the second woman to hold the post of chair, following Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), who served from 2016 to 2017. Cheng is to succeed incumbent Eric Chu (朱立倫) on Nov. 1 for a four-year term. Cheng said she has spoken with the other five candidates and pledged to maintain party unity, adding that the party would aim to win the elections next year and
RSS