Parents race to pick up kids as Hualien, Taiwan suddenly announces office, school closures

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/09/30
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Although seven other counties and cities had already announced office and school closures on Sunday evening (Sept. 29) in anticipation of Typhoon Mitag's arrival, Hualien County did not make such closures official until 7:30 a.m. this morning, leaving many students, parents, and teachers in the lurch.

By 10 p.m. on Sunday, New Taipei City, Taipei City, Keelung City, Taoyuan City, Hsinchu County, Yilan County, and Taitung County (Green Island and Orchid Island) had announced the closure of offices and schools on Monday (Sept. 30) in anticipation of Mitag's wrath. However, it was not until 7:35 a.m. this morning that Hualien Magistrate Hsu Chen-wei (徐榛蔚) took to Facebook to announce the following:

"According to an additional report released by the CWB at 7 a.m. today, the data for wind and rain has been revised for 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. today. The average wind levels will reach 6-7 level [Beaufort scale] winds, with gusts of up to level 9-10, which is the standard for stopping work and classes. Classes in Hualien County will be canceled for the whole day on Monday [Sept. 30]."

By this time, many parents had already sent their children to school and were blindsided by the news of the suspended classes. Parents quickly turned their cars around and rushed back to pick their children back up, leading to traffic jams outside of schools.    [FULL  STORY]