TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Even though Typhoon Podul is moving away from Taiwan, the outlying island of Kinmen and mountainous areas in the south have decided to keep offices and schools closed Thursday.

The storm moved into the Taiwan Strait in Tainan at 1 p.m. Wednesday after crossing the country from Taitung during the previous three hours. Podul is expected to make landfall in China near Kinmen after midnight.

The island county has decided to keep offices and schools closed at least until Thursday noon. In Pingtung County, the township of Manzhou and a village in the township of Chunri will shut down for the whole of Thursday after 1,100 residents of the latter had to be evacuated Wednesday, the Liberty Times reported.

In neighboring Kaohsiung, three neighborhoods in the Taoyuan District are to keep schools and offices closed Thursday. Three villages in Taitung’s Haiduan Township reached the same decision.

The Directorate-General of Personnel Administration updates the nationwide list of school and office closures on its website.