Taiwan braces for strongest typhoon of 2015, evacuates 2,600

The approaching typhoon could lead to flooding rains, damaging winds, and tidal surges. 

|
Pichi Chuang/Reuters
A fisherman ties his boat up as typhoon Soudelor approaches the northeastern coastal town of Nanfangao in Ilan county, northern Taiwan, August 6, 2015.

Nearly 2,600 people have been evacuated from Taiwan’s outer islands Thursday, as the island nation prepares for this year’s strongest typhoon so far, reports Agence France-Presse. 

Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau categorized typhoon Soudelor as a moderate storm, but others claim it has become quite severe.

Residents and tourists were ordered to evacuate the Green Island and Orchid Island, off the coast of the eastern county of Taitung, while authorities suspended ferry services to the remote islands. 

"It's posing a threat to the sea off the eastern half of Taiwan and the Bashi Channel," the Weather Bureau reported. "The chance of the typhoon strengthening later is still expected."

When Soudelor reaches Taiwan early Friday, it could lead to flooding rains, damaging winds, and tidal surges, which could "bring down trees, trigger power outages, and lead to structural damage, particularly of any poorly-built structures," reports the Weather Channel.

The Taiwanese government warned the public to take precautionary measures ahead of Soudelor's landing and gathered 32,000 soldiers standing by for disaster relief, the ministry of national defense said Thursday.

The typhoon first hit Saipan, home to some 48,000 residents in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, with wind speeds between 100 m.p.h. and 120 m.p.h. on Sunday, reports the Associated Press.

Gov. Ralph Torres declared a state of disaster and significant emergency after Soudelor left residents living in severe conditions without water or electricity.

It briefly became "super typhoon" Soudelor on Monday, when its winds reached 180 miles per hour, making it the strongest tropical cyclone on the planet so far this year, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC). A typhoon upgrades to a super typhoon when its winds are equal to or greater than 150 mph, reports CNN. 

Although Soudelor has since weakened, it remains a "formidable, dangerous" typhoon, experts say.

On Saturday, when the JTWC predicts it will make landfall on both Taiwan's main island and mainland China, its wind speeds could reach 140 mph – comparable to a category 4 hurricane, the second-highest on the Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale.

The International Space Station’s Scott Kelly shared an "ominous" photo of typhoon Soudelor Thursday morning, showing the ISS view of the storm:

The Weather Channel predicts Soudelor will nearly reach Japan’s far southwest Ryukyu Islands Friday, before it weakens slightly and makes a final landfall in southeast China late Saturday.  

The most recent notable typhoon to hit Taiwan was 2009’s Typhoon Morkato. Its heavy rainfall caused the most severe flooding in the nation since 1959, killing 681 people, reported the Tapei Times.

"Although it won't have the same effect of Typhoon Morakot, this typhoon is still very well developed," Premier Mao Chi-kuo said Thursday. "It must not be taken lightly."

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Taiwan braces for strongest typhoon of 2015, evacuates 2,600
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2015/0806/Taiwan-braces-for-strongest-typhoon-of-2015-evacuates-2-600
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe