Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/08/09
By: Sunrise Huang, Wang Hung-kuo and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Aug. 9 (CNA) People in Wulai District in New Taipei said Sunday there are still 100 people living in a mountainous part of the district who have not been heard from since Saturday when their village was hit by a severe landslide caused by Typhoon Soudelor.

A search for the residents in the Xiaoyi village has been launched, with a rescue team organized by National Airborne Service Corps, National Fire Agency and New Taipei City government having been flown to the mountain for the mission, according to the city government.

The team is focusing on the search for four households, whose “houses all disappeared” while the terrain on which the residences were situated changed during heavy rains and strong winds caused by the typhoon, New Taipei fire department official Chen Chung-yueh (陳崇岳) said.     [FULL  STORY]

TILTED LOVE:Chunghwa Post Co chairman Philip Ong said the two mailboxes would stay as they were, and that the post office plans to make them into a tourist attraction

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 10, 2015
By: Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter

Two mailboxes in Taipei have become tourist attractions after a shop sign fell on them

during Typhoon Soudelor, with visitors saying they now resemble two people standing next to each other and leaning.

The mailboxes — one red and the other green — are on Longjiang Road (龍江路) in Taipei.

The photos of the two tilted mailboxes quickly went viral, drawing dozens of people to the site yesterday.

Many visitors also leaned to the side and posed for photographs next to the mailboxes. Some netizens suggested that the Chunghwa Post Co (中華郵政) keep the two mailboxes as they are, as a reminder of the damage wrought by the typhoon.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-08-08
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A record 3.84 million homes were left without electricity some

time during the passage of Typhoon Soudelor, the Taiwan Power Corporation said Saturday.

The amount was not only a record, but due to the size of the problem, Taipower’s website stalled as too many people went online to report problems.

The previous record of 2.79 million households without power was reached during a typhoon in 1996, reports said.

Taipower said it was doing its best to fix the problem, but continuing strong winds and torrential rain in the wake of the typhoon was making repair work slow and difficult.

By 1 p.m. Saturday, 1.91 million homes were still left without power, but the number was brought down to 1.41 million by early evening, Taipower said. Central Taiwan’s Changhua County was the worst affected, with 400,000 homes still waiting for power to come back on. Taoyuan and New Taipei had 230,000 households each without power, Taichung 220,000, Yunlin County, where the eye of the typhoon left Taiwan’s main island, 160,000, Chiayi County 140,000 and Kaohsiung 100,000.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-08-08
By: CNA

Typhoon Soudelor has left four people dead and four others missing in Taiwan as of

11:15am Saturday, authorities said, as the powerful storm moved into the Taiwan Strait to the west. Sixty-four others have been injured.

Even though the typhoon center exited from Yunlin county around 11:00am, strong winds and heavy rains remained in the forecast, especially for southern Taiwan, forecasters said.

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/08/08
By: Chen Wei-ting, Huang Li-yun and Elaine Hou

Taipei, Aug. 8 (CNA) The gusts generated by Typhoon Soudelor in Taipei were the second strongest in recorded history in Taiwan’s capital, the Central Weather Bureau said Saturday.

The Taipei weather station registered level 13 winds on the Beaufort Scale, representing wind speeds of 133 to 149 kilometers per hour, at 5:25 a.m., the bureau said.

That was second only to level 14 winds (representing wind speeds of 150 kph to 166 kph) recorded at the Taipei station in 1996, when Typhoon Herb pounded Taiwan, it said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-08-07
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – As Typhoon Soudelor approached Taiwan Friday, all local

governments on the main island declared that schools and offices could close early in the evening.

Only residents of Yilan, Hualien and islands off Taitung County had all of Friday off, as announced the day before, but as the intensity of the storm became clearer, local governments in many other areas decided not to wait until the evening to announce closures.

Schools and offices will be closed Friday evening from Taipei, New Taipei and Keelung in the north to Pingtung in the south.

Only the offshore islands of Kinmen and Matsu close to the coast of China’s Fujian Province had not announced their decision yet by mid-afternoon, reports said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/08/07
By: Lee Ming-tsung, Yang Shu-min, Milly Lin and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, Aug. 7 (CNA) City and county governments announced Friday that all offices and

schools will be closed on Saturday in anticipation of Typhoon Soudelor.

All six municipalities, Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, three cities, and 13 counties, including the outlying islands of Penghu, Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) announced closures.

The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) has warned that 15 cities and counties may experience extremely torrential rain, 350mm or more in 24 hours, and the rest of Taiwan may see extremely heavy rain of 130mm or more over a 24 hour period.

As the typhoon moves toward Taiwan, 21,067 households had suffered blackouts and 6,328 were still without power, as of 9:40 p.m.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/08/06
By: S.C. Chang

Taipei, Aug. 6 (CNA) Yilan and Hualien county governments on Thursday announced

closures of schools and offices Friday in anticipation of Typhoon Soudelor.

Taitung County government said it is closing schools and offices for offshore Orchid Island and Green Island on Friday, but schools and offices will open in the morning for the towns and villages on Taiwan proper and close in the afternoon.

Earlier, Taitung County canceled all balloon festival activities on Friday for safety reasons.

Most cities and counties in west Taiwan announced that schools and offices will open as usual Friday in spite of a land warning for the typhoon.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/08/05
By: C.P. Liu, T. C. Lu, S. M. Yang, S. F. Wang and Lillian Lin

Taipei, Aug. 5 (CNA) Transportation and fire departments around Taiwan began making

preparations for Typhoon Soudelor, which is expected to pummel the island on Friday and Saturday.

Ferry operators in Taitung County in southeastern Taiwan announced Wednesday that ferry services between Fugang Harbor and Green Island and Orchid Island will be temporarily suspended from Thursday afternoon to Sunday.

The Taiwan Railways Administration will cancel its holiday cruise-style trains on Taiwan’s Father’s Day on Aug. 8 and will issue refunds to people who have made reservations.

The tourist trains travel through scenic spots in mountainous regions that are highly vulnerable to the heavy rains and gusty winds brought by typhoons.     [FULL  STORY]