I Am Still Alive

Here's the condition I'm in:

• Hotel food for me


• No shopping


• No going out of the hotel


• Chance of dying from typhoon
  

Well I've been watching the news, and apparently there was another typhoon a few days back, namely Sinlaku. This is an article on it:

Powerful Typhoon Sinlaku leaves 11 dead in Taiwan
Posted
9/16/2008 9:59 AM

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Typhoon Sinlaku's death toll in Taiwan rose to 11 with another 11 people missing after the powerful storm lashed at the island, authorities said Tuesday.

The victims included seven people killed when their cars were crushed by a tunnel that collapsed under the weight of a massive landslide in central Taiwan on Monday, the Disaster Relief Center said.

Authorities said rescuers were still searching for five people missing after a section of a 2,000-foot bridge over the Tachia River in central Taiwan collapsed under heavy rain on Sunday. The body of one driver has been recovered.
At least three other bridges around the island were closed after their pillars or surfaces showed cracks in the wake of the storm.

Facing severe criticism, the Taiwanese government has pledged to bolster the structures of bridges all over the island.
Sinlaku has caused $15.6 million in agricultural loss, according to the Agriculture Council.

The typhoon slammed into the northeast coast of Taiwan on Sunday, bringing heavy rain and strong winds. Elevated areas in central Taiwan recorded more than 62 inches of rain, and several large rivers overflowed their banks, forcing authorities to evacuate hundreds of people.

Sinlaku, downgraded to a tropical storm, was centered at sea 326 miles north of Keelung on the northern tip of Taiwan on Tuesday afternoon, the Central Weather Bureau said. Moving northeast, Sinlaku would likely make landfall in southern Japan by Friday.

That is the first typhoon. News said the second one, which I will be experiencing, will be even stronger. Like whoa. Did you see that photo of the fallen building???



News on the upcoming typhoon:

Typhoon Jangmi hits Taiwan today (01:00 AM)


The Central Weather Bureau (中央氣象局) (CWB) issued a land warning for powerful Typhoon Jangmi yesterday morning as the storm approached Taiwan.
The typhoon is projected to hit Taiwan's eastern and southeastern coasts early today, and residents of the eastern counties of Hualien and Taitung and the outlying Green Island and Orchid Island are advised to take precautions against the imminent storm, the bureau said.


Ships operating in the Bashih Channel and waters southeast and northeast of Taiwan should also be extra cautious, the bureau said.
At 11 a.m. yesterday, Jangmi was centered 560 kilometers east-southeast of Eluanpi - Taiwan's southern-most tip, packing maximum sustained winds of 191 kilometers per hour and moving northwest at 20-17 kph toward the island, CWB data showed.
The eye of the typhoon is expected to reach a position 140 km east-southeast of Eluanpi at 11 a.m. today, with the system's 280-km radius covering most of Taiwan by then, the data showed.
The CWB predicted that all of Taiwan will be covered by Jangmi tomorrow.
According to Wu Teh-jung, director of the CWB's forecast center, the combined effect of the northeast monsoon and the typhoon is likely to cause heavy rainfall in Taiwan over the next few days. Today and tomorrow, extremely heavy rain or torrential rain is expected around Taiwan, Wu said.
In mountainous areas the rainfall is likely to be in the "extremely torrential rain" category, he said.

UPDATE:
Well this morning, we thought we wouldn't be going out for today and tomorrow. We were wrong. After breakfast, we decided to just go out and fight the rain. It wasn't so strong anyway, and so we went, umbrellas in hand.



We visited the mall Taiwan 101, which apparantly is the 2nd largest (or tallest was it?) man-made building in the world. There, we shopped. Woohoo. And by then, the wind got stronger. And we can see people on the streets running towards the mall entrance, and their umbrella suddenly swept away by the wind. I was so excited. I asked my Dad if I could go out for a 'walk', and he finally agreed.



Outside, it was rainy, but not that serious. But after a few metres, the wind became really strong and you could see it falling in torrents, in a wave-like motion. I was so close to the other mall entrance when the wind blew my umbrella inside-out, and broke one of its skeletal thingy. Crap. No more umbrella to block off the rain. I just ran with all I could, but carefully to make sure I don't slip and fall and get blown away by the wind.



That was my first typhoon walking experience. And let me tell you this: IT IS FUN. I wanted to do it again! Though unfortunate, I had to throw away my umbrella. Then after shopping for bags clothes and what not, I bought myself another one. The big kinds, white in colour. (I have this thing for white umbrellas). Oh and I almost forgot to mention that my Dad was interviewed by a local channel, and a little bit of me =D



After all that shopping at 101, we took a cab and went to this bookstore somewhere down the street. When we reached the place, the cab driver refused to go to the driveway where there is shelter from the rain, and told us to just get off at the road.



At that moment, there was a large BAM! right behind us. We all turned around, in shock, expecting to see a broken tree branch against the taxi window. Fortunate for us, it wasn't like that. The baggage door of the taxi simply flew open by itself. But that's scary too.



We went out of the cab after that. Stupid me, without any experience of storms, I opened my umbrella. Tried. Then as I did so, as the wind was so strong that it flung my door open, my umbrella made a small crack. Oh! Another broken umbrella!

So naked and shelterless, we ran to the bookstore. By then it was 2:30PM, and the storm was expected to be at its strongest at 3:00PM. So after only a while, we decided to go back home. Alas, there was a line of people at the entrance waiting for a mean of transportation to go back home. And so far, none came.

Once, a cab stopped by the roadside. But the people didn't want to go out of the bookstore, they wanted the cab to go to them. We saw this as an opputurnity, and ran into the rain. We were drenched and finally got to the taxi, where I wasn't feeling so excited about the typhoon anymore.

It was so cold! But we were finally back to our hotel room, took a warm shower, changed into dry clothes. And now here I am, blogging at the hotel lobby. It is 4:25PM, and the weather outside is horrible. I am facing a huge window right now and I can see grey sky, rain falling in layers, changing with the strong wind, people struggling with their umbrellas which keep turning inside-out (or already broken), broken tree branches on the road, fallen advertorial boards, trees swaying so bad I expect one to break anytime soon, plastic bags flying about, lost umbrellas lying on the pavement.

Almost all the shops are closed, and while there are several cars on the road, there are almost no one to be seen walking around.

Anyway, let's hope the typhoon goes away soon so I can go shop shop shop. Will blog again when something comes up and I have a computer, for I am planning to change hotels. Seeee ya~

Labels: taiwan, typhoon