Keeping On eeping On 10 Everyone in Taiwan has a typhoon story

by Harmony

It was 27th January, I had just flown back from Taiwan arriving in Auckland. After long queues at customs, I walked the well trodden path from the international to domestic terminals for the Christchurch flight. Halfway across, the light rain was getting heavier, so I started to run, pushing my luggage trolley. A record-breaking flood was hitting Auckland that day, the remnants of a tropical cyclone. For me, cyclones? Meh! I grew up with cyclones, storms and typhoons.

Several months later, news about Auckland’s floods and Cyclone Gabrielle has never stopped. Sitting watching TV led to memories that I grew up with. Every summer, several typhoons “visit” Taiwan. They bring in big winds and floods that slash hill forests, cause landslides, damage buildings and bridges. Huge flood waters wash away houses near the rivers. Severe debris flows cover whole villages….

Everyone in Taiwan has a story about typhoons. The year before I moved to the city, a big flood washed away the fish in some breeding farms. Those fish swam to the flooded area near my home. So, that summer I remember catching two big fresh fish, for free!

Typhoons can even be a little “romantic” for the young. My hometown is a port city with a harbour and long coastline. The day before a Typhoon really arrived, I would ride my motorcycle enjoying the cooler air passing me by. Then I would park my bike, sit by the coast and watch the big waves. Sometimes the waves would rush into the land seeming to play a hide and seek game with nature.

On the other hand, I once had to rescue my car because the flood water rushed into my garage. I watched as the water level kept getting higher, about to get into my car’s exhaust pipe. I felt helpless. I

Update From The Clubs

Bishopdale Better Breathing Community Group. Come along and join us for light exercise and refreshments. Meets: at the Orauwhata Bishopdale Library and Community Centre on Tuesday mornings from 10.30am-11.30am. Contact: Gary Syme (Group Leader) on phone 021 313903 or email garyhettysyme@xtra.co.nz.

pushed some clothes into the pipe to reduce the damage to my car.

But I also recall the scene the night the typhoon arrived when I was young. It was dark - the electricity had gone out. Not allowed to go outside, we kids lit candles, making different animal shapes on the walls. My father shared stories, my mother cooked special typhoon meals….. Actually it was a very warm family gathering time.

The names “cyclone”, “typhoon” and “hurricane” can be confusing. In fact, they are the same thing, just different names in different places. All of them are big rotating storms with high wind speeds. They form on tropical oceans before moving gradually into huge storms. If they form on the northern Atlantic Ocean, they are “hurricanes”. If they develop over the northern Pacific Ocean, they are “typhoons”. We New Zealanders have “cyclones” because the rotating storms form over the southern Pacific Ocean. That’s all. One difference is those huge storms rotate anti clockwise in the northern hemisphere versus clockwise in the southern hemisphere. Nature is interesting, isn’t it?

After watching the news, I noticed how human beings develop our potential strength when we have to. It’s why the Taiwanese have