Northern Taiwan doused by Tropical Storm Trami
Staff Reporter 2013-08-21 15:43
Elementary school students use their hands and bags as makeshift raingear. in Tainan, Aug. 20. (Photo/Syu Cheng-hung)
Schools, businesses and the stock exchange in Taiwan were closed on Wednesday as severe tropical storm Trami is swept through the country and brought extremely heavy rain.
The storm caused the death of a 73-year-old woman and a 60-year-old man in Hsinchu in northern Taiwan on Tuesday as the northern half of the island took the brunt of the storm.
After the bureau issued a sea and land warning, Taipei, New Taipei and Keelung decided to close schools and businesses for the day while Taoyuan county, Hsinchu county and Hsinchu city shut down for the afternoon.
The townships of Jianshih and Wufeng in a mountainous regions of Hsinchu county were closed for the day. The weather bureau issued mudslide warnings to 17 villages in Jianshih township and Fusing township in Taoyuan county.
Yilan county on the northeastern coast has closed schools and will close businesses in the afternoon. Hualien county on the east coast will close schools and businesses in the afternoon.
Although schools have closed for summer vacation, many students attend summer programs, which will be closed due to the storm.
The Taiwan Stock Exchange announced its closure along with countywide business and school closings in Taipei, New Taipei and Keelung.
Southern and central Taiwan and the offshore islands off the west coast have not been affected by the storm.
