Typhoon Soulik: A Foul Wind Blows into Taiwan

Typhoon Soulik on a collision course with northern Taiwan

We’ve lived here now about four years, and we have weathered a number of typhoons.  But we have been surprised at how mild they were.  A typhoon is the same as a hurricane but instead of being on the Atlantic Ocean, a typhoon takes place on the Pacific.  Most of the typhoons begin around an island called Chuuk and beeline toward the China Sea.

Usually, the nations of South China, Viet Nam, The Philippines and, of course, Taiwan are the places where typhoons hit.  The most recent typhoon to impact Taiwan was called Typhoon Soulik. 

I always look forward to typhoons with a kind of excitement.  We’re not used to extreme weather in Southern California.  But mostly I’ve been disappointed by the actual blandness of the typhoons.  Once, my daughter Emily and I took the car and went looking for the typhoon, but we were disappointed.  We never even found evidence that much of anything had happened.  In fact, we came across a bridge that was loaded with tourists at the very time the typhoon was supposed to be wreaking havoc on our lives. 

So we were expecting more of the same with Typhoon Soulik; maybe a bit of rain, some scattered winds, hot humid air.  That was our experience with a typhoon, but this one was different.  This was the first time we’d experienced a “Typhoon Day.”  That’s when the government closes down work and school and tells everyone to stay home.  Of course, people leave work and drive immediately, uh to the mall where they hang out until the storm passes.  They were expecting landfall about three o’clock actual landfall was closer to six pm.  Then the winds started to strengthen and gust.  It started to rain and the typhoon roared into town.

According to the Central Weather Bureau website, cwb.gov.tw, the winds were expected to reach speeds of 186 km/hr (114 mph) with gusts up to 226 km/hr (140 mph).  In fact for a time the typhoon was classified as a “Super Typhoon.”  I’m not sure what the actual wind speeds were because our power went down during the typhoon and stayed down for about seven hours. 

The winds were so loud that it was unbelievable.  It was like living at the airport as the winds gusted up and literally screamed past the window.  My window was on the backside of our building, away from the wind.  My daughters’ rooms were facing the storm and the winds actually drove water through the tiny spaces between the windows and the walls.

2:51 am. Huge winds, lightning, torrential rain, and power outages. Whee. #typhoonsoulik
— The Taiwan Adventure (@cbanducci) July 12, 2013

It was massive it even caused our apartment to rock, a bit.  It was wild.  My thoughts are okay, now I’ve experienced one.  I can go back to bland weather.  Yeah, right…I have to say, IT WAS COOL!  Taiwanese people are pretty relaxed about typhoons.  I heard scooters going by in the wildest moments of the typhoon. Amazing!

There was quite a bit of damage in our neighborhood from the typhoon.  It was mostly broken trees or trees that were knocked down.  There were a number of construction fences that were knocked down and just plain blown away The next day, though they were hard at work cleaning up the mess.  They even mobilized the military to do cleanup work.

 


Other posts you may be interested in:

Here it Comes:  Typhoon Conson
Taiwanese Weather:  Monsoons and Typhoons
Storm Chasers:  Driving into the Belly of the Beast

Photo Credit:  Satellite Photo:  cwb.gov.tw

Taiwanese Weather: Typhoon Tembin

Typhoon Tembin in the Philippines and bearing down on Taiwan

A week ago Typhoon Tembin blew through Taiwan.  This was an interesting typhoon because it was what is called a recurved Typhoon.  That simply means that it turned back on itself.

The Typhoon came up from the Philippines, crossed the southern tip of Taiwan, spun into the ocean south of Taiwan and then curved and ran up the east coast. It finally moved up between Japan and the mainland and crossed into South Korea before burning itself out.

The typhoon made an impact on Southern Taiwan resulting in six people killed and $200 Million NTD ($ US 6.6 Million) in damage to the agricultural industry.  Because of the devastation caused by Typhoon Morakot in August 2009 the Government put some effort into preparation and emergency relief.

Typhoons are hurricanes that happen on the Pacific Ocean.  In the post, Tyhoon Conson:  Here it Comes, I write about how typhoons are formed.  In the post, Taiwanese Weather:  Monsoons and Typhoons, I show the paths of all the typhoons in 2011.  Take a look at those links if you are interested in typhoons.

In Taoyuan City we’re pretty well protected and sine we are on the west side of the island the typhoons lose a lot of their power crossing the mountains.  Typhoon Saola came through a few weeks ago dumped lots of rain on us, but we felt very little wind.  Typhoon Tembin affected mostly the south of the island, we had little rain and no wind. 

Taoyuan City is in the upper left hand corner of the island

One thing that’s interesting is the reaction of the people to typhoons.  Generally, the government will call for a typhoon day in the affected areas.  Businesses will be closed, and the streets will be pretty empty, because it’s a pretty sure thing the typhoon will hit.  Some areas will be evacuated if there is a threat of mudslides, but for most part life just keeps happening.  People go to work, go to school and you see them riding scooters.  Shops are open, Chinese tourists are seeing the sights and you wouldn’t even know a typhoon is coming.

I remember one typhoon when we first came, Emily and I decided to be storm chasers and went off to find it.  It was the day the typhoon was crossing our area.  We never really did find it.  But we came upon a place, a bridge in Daxi that was filled with tourists.  I couldn’t believe it. 

I guess because growing up in America, we really, kind of fear hurricanes.  When one comes in to the coast there’s extensive evacuation, a run on the stores to stock up food, the news is full of it every day.  Here, life just seems to go on. 

I was thinking that maybe hurricanes are more powerful than typhoons, but a comparison of Tembin to Isaac showed the same wind speeds and rainfall.  The answer might be found in the fact that Taiwan averages about 14 typhoons a year and the US has fewer.  At any rate, things slowed down for a few days and then got right back to normal.

Other posts you may be interested in:

Storm Chasers:  Driving into the Belly of the Beast
Taiwanese Weather:  Monsoons and Typhoons
Typhoon Saola;  How's That Ark Coming Along

Photo Credit:  http://www.businessinsider.com/typhoon-tembin-headed-straight-for-taiwan-2012-8
Map: www.maps.com