Taiwan's stock market has closed and flights are being canceled en masse as the ninth typhoon of the season, "Bavi," approaches the waters off northern Taiwan.
Islandwide Emergency, Unusual Intensity
According to Taiwanese media including the China Times and United Daily News on the 10th, more than 10 local governments across Taiwan issued closure orders for workplaces and schools and evacuation orders for residents in preparation for Typhoon Bavi's landfall.
Preventive measures are understood to have begun from the previous evening in areas including the capital Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung, and Hsinchu, home to TSMC's headquarters.
Taichung and Nantou County confirmed a full day of workplace and school closures on the 11th, and about 1,000 residents in eastern coastal areas were reported to have relocated to safe zones.
According to data from Taiwan's Central Weather Administration, Bavi has a central pressure of 940 hPa and maximum wind speeds near its center of 45 meters per second. Strong winds are blowing within a 380-kilometer radius of the typhoon's center. Local media assess Bavi as the strongest typhoon since 1995.
At Taoyuan International Airport, China Airlines and EVA Air announced they would suspend all routes from 6 p.m. on the 10th until 4 a.m. on the 12th. The Taiwan Stock Exchange was closed on the 10th, and TSMC postponed its scheduled June earnings announcement to the 13th.
Limited Impact on Korean Peninsula, Monsoon Rains a Variable
The Korean Peninsula is largely expected to fall outside the direct path of this typhoon. Observers say Bavi is likely to turn toward China and weaken, with the remaining water vapor also likely to flow northward.
"Because high pressure is dominating the area around our country, even the water vapor remaining after the typhoon dissipates appears, for now, to head toward North Korea along the boundary of the high pressure," an academic official explained.
However, the change in atmospheric flow after the typhoon passes is cited as a variable for domestic weather.
"The water vapor supplied from Bavi will not directly affect our country's weather, but after Typhoon Bavi dissipates, the pressure system will be rearranged," the official said. "There is a possibility of additional precipitation in the latter half of next week." Due to this effect, the possibility of monsoon rains falling in Korea around the 15th is being raised.
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