A number of parents who braved the weather to pick up their children from school yesterday slammed the decision by the Kaohsiung, Tainan and Yunlin County governments to call off school and work only for yesterday afternoon, as Typhoon Megi hit the nation.
After the weather deteriorated early in the morning, parents, who had to drop off and pick up their children in adverse conditions, complained about yesterday only being declared a half-typhoon day.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) said that, according to weather forecasts, conditions in Kaohsiung yesterday morning did not meet the requirements to suspend school and work, adding that the typhoon was not expected to affect the city until 3pm or 4pm.
Photo: Lee Jung-ping, Taipei Times
“I would like to be Santa Claus, but there are legal standards for declaring a typhoon day,” Chen said.
Chen said she understood the half-typhoon day bothered the parents, but she had to conform with legal requirements.
Separately, Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) also said the city government’s decision was made according to professional judgement, and he asked for the public’s understanding over the inconvenience caused by the decision.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
He said that, according to the weather forecasts, conditions in Tainan would not meet the requirements for school and office closures until 7pm.
The Tainan City Government did not make the announcement until 10pm on Monday, when the final weather forecast came out, he said, reaffirming the city government’s decisionmaking process.
Complaints also flooded Yunlin County Commissioner Lee Chin-yung’s (李進勇) Facebook page, as the county government had also declared only a half-day off and students were forced to brave the weather in the morning when the wind gained strength.
Photo: CNA
Lee said the decision was made in accordance with weather forecasts and asked for understanding.
While no typhoon day was declared for yesterday morning, National Hsin-feng Senior High School in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁) canceled classes at 10:20am as weather conditions worsened.
The school said many of its students commuted on bicycle, which would be dangerous in adverse conditions, so it decided to suspend classes independently of the city government’s announcement, which parents and netizens applauded.
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