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Tropical Storm in Taiwan on Thursday, 02 August, 2012 at 05:14 (05:14 AM) UTC.
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A slow-moving typhoon spawning torrential rains slammed into eastern Taiwan early Thursday, flooding farmlands, disrupting transportation and turning the normally bustling capital of Taipei into a ghost town. The storm made landfall near the eastern coastal city of Hualien just before daybreak, before veering northward and hugging the coast. It was expected to pass near the northern port city of Keelung and skirt the Taipei suburbs by midday. Packing sustained winds of 118 km/h and gusts of 155 km/h, Saola's slow speed -- only 12 km/h -- made it a virtual certainty that the heavy rains inundating northern Taiwan for the past 48 hours would continue through the weekend. That raised the prospect of potentially devastating flooding in areas that have already absorbed more than 1,000 millimeters of rain since Tuesday. Authorities ordered offices and businesses closed throughout northern Taiwan, including in Taipei. Normally busy streets in the capital were deserted during the morning rush hour, as cleanup crews laboured to clear them of hundreds of trees and branches felled during the night by Saola's ferocious approach. Television footage showed hectare upon hectare of flooded farmland in low-lying coastal areas, punctuated by scenes of raging rivers and roads blocked by mudslides in the island's mountainous centre. The Defence Ministry mobilized 48,000 soldiers to help mitigate the storm's impact, dispatching many to help hard-pressed farmers try to save threatened fruit and vegetable harvests. Dozens of flights were cancelled at Taipei's main international airport, and rail transport throughout the island was disrupted.
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