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Taiwan issues typhoon alert; markets shut Friday
04 Aug 2005 15:10:33 GMT
Source: Reuters
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(Adds financial markets to close, updates typhoon location) TAIPEI, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Taiwan warned of torrential rain and landslides as Typhoon Matsa headed towards the island, prompting officials to order schools, offices and financial markets to close in the capital Taipei on Friday. If the typhoon stays on its present course, it is unlikely to make landfall. But the Central Weather Bureau issued a land alert on Thursday, saying the storm was likely to bring heavy rain to the island's northeast. The Taipei city government announced that the island's political and financial centre would be closed for business on Friday. Schools and businesses in several cities and counties in the north would also be shut. By 1400 GMT, Matsa's centre was 220 km (137 miles) east of Ilan on the northeastern coast and moving northwest at 14 km (9 miles) per hour. The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 144 km (89 miles) per hour and gusts up to 180 (112 miles) km per hour. Typhoon Haitang killed 12 people in Taiwan last month and three more are still listed as missing. It caused economic damage of T$4.8 billion ($151 million) in the agricultural sector, according to the latest government figures, before moving into China, where it forced a million residents on the mainland's southeast coast to evacuate. In 2001, one of Taiwan's deadliest years for storms, Typhoon Toraji, killed 200 people. A few months later, Typhoon Nari caused Taipei's worst flooding on record and killed 100. Typhoons gather strength from warm sea water and tend to dissipate after making landfall. They frequently hit Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong and southern China during a typhoon season that lasts from early summer to late autumn.
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