The Mid-Autumn Festival looks likely to be rainy this year, with the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) reporting yesterday that a tropical storm is likely to affect Taiwan this weekend.
The storm system was upgraded to a tropical storm at 2am yesterday. Tropical Storm Sinlaku takes its name from the Micronesian word for “goddess.”
At press time, the center of the storm was located 970km southwest of Naha, Okinawa, moving northwest at 10kph. The radius of the storm was 150km.
If the high air pressure from the Pacific Ocean strengthens, the storm is likely to move closer to Taiwan, the bureau said. If the air pressure weakens, the storm may move north or east instead, it said.
The bureau said the storm could approach the east coast tomorrow.
Meanwhile, an earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale shook most of the country yesterday.
The bureau said the epicenter of the earthquake was located off the coast of Ilan County, approximately 85.8km east of Suao. The depth of the epicenter was 89.2km.
The earthquake was the strongest this year, the bureau said. The temblor was felt nationwide except in Kaohsiung and Pingtung. The intensity was 4.0 in Ilan, 3.0 in Hualien, and 2.0 in Taipei.
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