Typhoon Fong-Wong

Typhoon Fung-Wong (meaning "Phoenix" in Chinese) is our second typhoon this month. The first was Kalmaegi, which did not affect Taipei very much, but devastated Taichung, leaving 20 people dead and 6 missing.

Fung-Wong arrived on Taiwan's east coast just before 7am on Monday, 28 July, before exiting the west coast at about 2.30pm. We experienced winds of up to 140km/h and very heavy rains. Public offices and schools were closed that day, so DH had a day off. Although Fung-Wong was much stronger than Kalmaegi, the casualties from Fung-Wong (2 people dead and 6 injured) were relatively fewer due to precautionary measures taken by the Taiwan government.

We were quite prepared ourselves. We had our non-battery operated torchlights and emergency radio, which were part of our emergency equipment from Denver when we were preparing for snowstorms. We boiled a few pots of drinking water just in case the water supply got cut off and also filled DD's baby bathtub with water. DH went out and got us more bread to supplement our other foodstuff in the pantry. Thankfully, we didn't have to use any of our emergency supplies. The kids had a bad night though, because the loud howling winds and heavy rains kept them awake. April to October is typhoon season here in Taiwan, although July apparently has the most typhoons and storms are most frequent from July to October. Well, hopefully, we wouldn't see anymore typhoons before we leave Taiwan in October this year!

Here is a video taken from our living room window. You can actually see the windows rattling from the strong winds. Rain water had also seeped collected along the window sills. The heavy rains, no doubt, left our windows spotlessly clean!