6 cities/counties to close schools, offices Monday due to typhoon

Taipei, July 6 (CNA) Five counties and one city in Taiwan have announced work and class cancellations for Monday, as the periphery of Typhoon Danas reached southern Taiwan on Sunday afternoon.

According to the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration (DGPA), Hsinchu County, Miaoli County, Taichung, Changhua County, Yunlin County and Nantou County have announced that there will be no school or work on Monday for residents in those areas.

Other local governments -- including those in Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung and Taoyuan -- are expected to announce whether to suspend schools and classes at around 8 p.m. Sunday.

Taiwan's Central Weather Administration (CWA) said 16 cities and counties are expected to meet the official criteria for suspending work and school on Monday, including the country's most populous metropolis, New Taipei.

Under national regulations, local governments may cancel work and school if a typhoon's periphery is expected to pass the area within four hours and bring average wind speeds of level 7 or higher, or gusts of level 10 or higher.

In general, cancellations are also permitted if 24-hour rainfall is forecast to exceed 200 millimeters in mountainous areas and 350 millimeters in non-mountainous areas, with disaster impacts already observed or anticipated.

As of 4 p.m. Sunday, rainfall in the mountains of Miaoli County, Taichung, Nantou County, Yunlin County, Chiayi County, Kaohsiung and Pingtung County had exceeded 200 millimeters, the CWA said.

Meanwhile, more than 300 millimeters of rainfall was forecast in non-mountainous areas of Miaoli County, Taichung, Changhua County, Nantou County, Yunlin County, Chiayi City, Chiayi County, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung County.

The decision whether to cancel work and school is made by each local government, based on official forecasts and observed conditions.