Taiwan battens down against oncoming typhoon

SHAKE AND BLOW

A Taiwanese woman clad in raincoat rides her bicycle against strong winds in Taipei on July 27, 2008. Workers mounted sandbag barriers and fishing boats returned to port as Taiwan braced for a pounding from Typhoon Fung-wong, which forecasters said was picking up momentum. With a radius of 220 kilometres (132 miles), it was measured packing gusts of 137 kilometres per hour and is expected to make landfall on the morning of July 29. Photo courtesy AFP.

by Staff Writers
Taipei (AFP) July 27, 2008
Workers mounted sandbag barriers and fishing boats returned to port as Taiwan braced for a pounding from Typhoon Fung-wong, which forecasters said was picking up momentum.

Taiwan is still reeling from storms earlier this month which left 20 people dead and six missing, and the Central Weather Bureau warned residents to take extra precautions against the oncoming typhoon.

Schools, offices and the financial markets will be closed Monday, and railway traffic and flights partially suspended, as the island braces itself.

With a radius of 220 kilometres (132 miles), the typhoon was measured packing gusts of 137 kilometres per hour.

At 1100 GMT, the eye of the typhoon was around 220 kilometres southeast of Hualien city in Taiwan's east, where it is expected to make landfall on Monday morning.

"All residents must heighten their vigilance as the typhoon continues to gain force and may bring in strong winds and heavy rains," a Central Weather Bureau forecaster said, adding that total rainfall may reach 900 millimetres (35 inches).

Coastguard officials said they were searching for a fishing boat with four Taiwanese and a Chinese man which has been missing since Friday near Matsu, a Taiwan-controlled island group off China's southeastern Fujian province.

Television images showed workers piling sandbags along a river in Wuje, a town in central Taiwan flooded by storm Kalmaegi earlier this month.

The Maokong Gondola, a popular lift system outside the capital Taipei, has shut down while ferry boat services between the southern city of Kaohsiung and Penghu Island in the Taiwan Strait were halted.

Thousands of fishing boats have also sought shelter in ports.

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SHAKE AND BLOW

Hurricane Genevieve forms in Pacific

Washington (AFP) July 25, 2008
Hurricane Genevieve has formed over the Pacific to the west of Mexico but is expected to remain out at sea, the US National Hurricane Center announced Friday.

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