Tag: Typhoons

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Typhoon Soudelor’s Tilting Postboxes!

Catherine Lee

Until last weekend, these 2 postboxes were just ordinary postboxes on an ordinary street in ‪Taipei‬ City.  But then a signboard crashed down on them during Typhoon ‪‎Soudelor‬ and changed them forever. They were bent over, but not broken.  Tilting together in the same direction, 好可愛, so sweet, so lovely! Now they have become icons, almost memorials to the typhoon, symbols of resilience and togetherness, and a place of pilgrimage for people from all walks of life, including artists, TV crews, pet dogs, and yes, even snakes… ha ha, it’s a great place to visit!  I went there on Wednesday, … Continue reading Typhoon Soudelor’s Tilting Postboxes!

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Typhoon Soudelor ~ the Aftermath

Catherine Lee

A week after Typhoon Soudelor hit, and it now has its own Wikipedia page here.  Current figures are that 8 people died and over 400 were injured in Taiwan as a result of the typhoon. The worst affected area was the hot spring area of Wu-Lai up in the mountains above Taipei where a major landslide has devastated the valley, washing away homes, hotels, roads, cars, trees and filling the beautiful hot springs with mud. Throughout the country, damage to homes and businesses is immense, but at least mostly repairable.  That’s what we’ve all been doing all week, fixing and … Continue reading Typhoon Soudelor ~ the Aftermath

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Typhoon Soudelor 蘇迪勒颱風

Catherine Lee

Well here we are, alive to tell the tale.  That was definitely a storm to end all storms.  What a night it was, and then what a day.  24 hours of non-stop torrential rains, almost apocalyptic winds that shook the walls and windows until it felt like the buildings were going to collapse or take off, debris crashing and banging and flying into everything, and a 10 hour power cut. With no electricity, we had no TV News, and although we had mobile and 3G signals, the power soon ran out on the phone and power bank.  So all we could … Continue reading Typhoon Soudelor 蘇迪勒颱風

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Typhoon Soudelor on it’s way…

Catherine Lee

Typhoon Soudelor is fast approaching, the strongest typhoon of the year so far.   Moving fast in our direction.  Having wreaked havoc in Saipan a few days ago, it’s now heading for a direct hit on Taiwan early tomorrow morning before heading to Mainland China…. Actually today has been quite quiet so far up here in the far north of Taiwan, breezy with showers, but big winds and torrential rains expected to start this evening…. The day before a typhoon is often beautiful, with clear blue skies and a glorious sunset. And yesterday was just like that! This was the … Continue reading Typhoon Soudelor on it’s way…

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Typhoon Day!

Catherine Lee

A few days ago the weather maps were showing a row of 3 typhoons all in a line, all in the western Pacific, and all heading in our direction.  The first one, Lin-fa skirted the southern tip of Taiwan a few days ago, and now the second, Chan-Hom is skirting the northern tip of Taiwan.   This map is what it all looks like ~ courtesy of the Taiwan Government Central Weather Bureau.   The third one is actually supposed to head north towards Japan instead of west towards us, but anything is possible in the world of typhoons! Chan-Hom is big, but … Continue reading Typhoon Day!