Offices, schools closed in southern Taiwan due to torrential rain

TAIPEI - Regional governments in a swath of southern Taiwan closed offices and schools on Aug 24 due to torrential rain, with a typhoon expected to impact the north of the island at the end of the week.A low pressure system has hovered over southern Taiwan for the past few days, bringing heavy rain and causing flooding.The governments of the two cities of Kaohsiung and Tainan, home to more than four million people, ordered offices and schools closed, as did the counties of Pingtung and Chiayi and the mountainous eastern counties of Taitung and Hualien.The Kaohsiung government said it expected cumulative rainfall over the five-day period of the low-pressure system to exceed 1.3m, nearly half what the city typically expects in an entire year.Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration said separately that Typhoon Saudel, currently heading towards Japan’s southern Okinawa region, is expected to pass by the northern part of Taiwan early on Aug 28 before reaching the eastern coast of China. REUTERS