Taiwan Issues Land, Sea Warning as Typhoon Approaches

Taiwan Issues Land, Sea Warning as Typhoon Approaches

September 18, 2010, 12:24 AM EDT

(Updates location of Fanapi in second paragraph.)By Weiyi Lim

Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Taiwan authorities issued a land and sea warning as Typhoon Fanapi approaches, the Central Weather Bureau said in a statement on its website today.

Fanapi, with winds gusting up to 191 kilometers (119 miles) per hour, was 420 kilometers east of Hualien at 11:30 a.m. local time today and heading west at 15 kilometers per hour, the bureau said. Fanapi is expected to increase speed and bring strong winds and heavy rain throughout Taiwan from tonight through tomorrow, according to the bureau.

There were no casualties or damage reported as of 10 a.m., the island’s Ministry of Transportation and Communications said in an e-mailed statement. Three international flights from Kaohsiung, Taiwan have been canceled, according to the statement. More than 17,000 people are on standby to manage any possible disaster, the statement said.

The soil and water conversation bureau and Directorate General of Highways said they have set up teams to prepare for emergencies.

In August 2009, Taiwan was battered by Typhoon Morakot, the most destructive of last year’s western Pacific cyclone season, according to the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

Taiwan is taking extra precautions this time around after President Ma Ying-jeou’s popularity fell to a record low when Morakot, which struck from Aug. 6 to Aug. 9, killed more than 600 people and caused at least NT$110 billion ($3.4 billion) of damage.

Ma’s popularity plunged to 29 percent after the storm, according to a survey conducted by the United Daily News published on Aug. 19, 2009. Ma had an approval rating of 66 percent when he took office in May 2008, and polled 52 percent on his first anniversary, according to the newspaper.

China issued its highest alert on Typhoon Fanapi, which may become the strongest storm to strike the country this year, the National Meteorological Center said in a statement posted on its website today. The typhoon may make landfall in southern China during the evening of Sept. 19 and morning of Sept. 20, according to the statement.

--With assistance from Zhe Huang in Beijing. Editor: Matthew Oakley.

To contact the reporter on this story: Weiyi Lim in Taipei at Wlim26@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Tighe at ptighe@bloomberg.net

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-09-18/taiwan-issues-land-sea-warning-as-typhoon-approaches.html