Punishing Heat to Typhoon Downpours: A Week of Intense Weather Ahead
Taiwan's Sunshade Solutions and Looming Typhoon
REPORTER:
An umbrella gives people waiting at this crosswalk a short escape from the unrelenting sun. Sunshades like these have been popping up in parts of Taiwan as sweltering summer temperatures create the risk of heatstroke. New Taipei got an early start, with its first installations in April, while Taipei and Kaohsiung started a trial program in late June.
But the environment minister isn’t sold on the idea—at least not as a solid solution to summers that could keep getting hotter as the planet heats up. At a presentation Saturday, he put forward this alternative.
Peng Chi-ming (ENVIRONMENT MINISTER):
[You can set up] umbrellas but those are still concrete structures. We have too many concrete buildings. [Umbrellas] are a short-term measure. They can’t be a long-term solution to the heat problem. Only planting trees can solve the heat problem.
REPORTER:
Officials in Taipei and Kaohsiung are already saying they’re onboard with the idea of planting more trees where possible.
Li Shu-mei (DEPUTY CHIEF ENGINEER, KAOHSIUNG PARKS OFFICE):
To proactively adapt to climate change Kaohsiung will keep expanding urban greenery and raise the greenery coverage rate. More trees will be planted in hot areas and areas lacking greenery planting where suitable improving the bases trees are planted on and strengthening care and management.
REPORTER:
But that’s a matter for the future. Right now, Taiwan is sizzling—with the weather administration telling much of the country to prepare Sunday for temperatures upwards of 36 degrees. And, while there may be some relief by the end of the week, it comes with the risk of damage.
The weather may be clear for now, but this survey team in the Hualien mountains is evacuating early, mission only partly complete, as a powerful storm heads towards Taiwan.
Typhoon Bavi should be off Taiwan’s southeast coast by Thursday. And while forecasters expect it to curve off to the north, avoiding a direct hit to Taiwan, it’s still unclear how soon that may happen—and how close the storm will end up coming. A typhoon alert is possible—heavy rain likely.
Cheng Chieh-ren (METEOROLOGIST):
There’s a chance of heavy rain in parts of the north and Yilan. Mountainous areas could see torrential rain in places because no matter whether [the storm] is near or far away the northern mountains and Yilan get notable rain when the wind direction tends to the north to northeast.
REPORTER:
For much of Taiwan, it’s shaping up to be a week of weather extremes.
Andy Hsueh and John Van Trieste for TaiwanPlus.
