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.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
RSS