Residents of northern Taiwan should brace for heavy rain today and tomorrow as Typhoon In-Fa approaches the northeast, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday.
A land alert for the typhoon would be issued depending on the angle at which it moves north today, the bureau said.
The bureau on Wednesday issued a sea alert for the typhoon, which applies to ships operating off the nation’s northern, northeastern and southeastern coasts.
As of 8:30pm yesterday, In-Fa’s center was 470km southeast of Taipei, moving northwest at 6kph. It was carrying maximum sustained winds of 180kph, and had a radius of 200km.
The typhoon was moving rather slowly due to the lack of a clear guiding airstream, bureau forecaster Hsieh Pei-yun (謝佩芸) said, adding that the CWB forecast that it would be near the southern coast of Japan’s Miyako Island this morning.
While humidity at sea allows the typhoon to develop, In-Fa would maintain its current level of intensity when it approaches Taiwan and slowly turns north today as a Pacific high-pressure system subsides, Hsieh said.
Photo: CNA
“The angle at which it turns as it moves north would be key in determining how the storm would affect the nation,” she said, when asked about the possibility of the bureau issuing a land alert.
“If the typhoon veers to the east after it turns north, the radius of the storm would not reach Taiwan,” Hsieh said.
The typhoon is to accelerate and move away from Taiwan tomorrow, she said.
Intermittent rain began to fall in the northern and northeastern regions yesterday, Hsieh said, adding that extremely heavy rain is forecast for mountainous areas in northern Taiwan today.
Showers are forecast for central, southern and eastern Taiwan.
The bureau issued an extremely heavy rain alert to residents of Taoyuan and Hsinchu County, as well as mountainous areas in Taipei, New Taipei City, Miaoli and Yilan counties.
By 5pm yesterday, Hsinchu County’s Beipu Township (北埔) had the nation’s highest accumulated rainfall of 298.5mm, followed by 222mm at Taoyuan’s Shihmen Reservoir (石門水庫), 220mm in Miaoli County’s Nanjhuang Township (南庄) and 210mm in Yilan County’s Taipingshan (太平山), bureau data showed.
On Sunday, a southwest wind would rise again after the typhoon arrives in China, making the weather in central and southern Taiwan unstable, Hsieh said.
Five domestic flights and two international flights were canceled yesterday due to In-Fa, the Civil Aeronautics Administration said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique