The Central Weather Bureau yesterday said it has not ruled out that Tropical Storm Doksuri could make landfall in Taiwan, although considerable uncertainty remains about its path.
As of 8pm, Doksuri was about 1,300km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west at 9kph, bureau data showed.
The storm, which had a radius of 100km, was packing maximum sustained winds of 82kph with gusts of up to 108kph.
Doksuri could get stronger after today and turn northwest tomorrow when it reaches the Philippine Sea, but its effect on Taiwan would depend on how much it changes direction, bureau forecaster Lin Ting-yi (林定宜) said.
The most likely day on which a sea warning might be issued would be Tuesday, he added.
Doksuri’s periphery would affect Taiwan from that day, when the north and east of the country would have rain.
Photo courtesy of the Kaohsiung Harbor Bureau
Doksuri would be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday, and during those two days, there would be rain across all of Taiwan, he said.
Meanwhile, work continued yesterday on the recovery of about 600 containers that fell into the ocean after the Palau-flagged ship Angel sank on Friday while anchored off the Port of Kaohsiung, Taiwan International Ports Corp’s Kaohsiung branch said.
The company said it is working with the Kaohsiung City Government, the Coast Guard Administration, the Kaohsiung Harbor Bureau and the Fisheries Agency.
It said that 17 vessels were yesterday sent to retrieve the containers, many of which have been seen floating near Linyuan District (林園) and Donggang Township (東港).
Although it could take four to five days to recover all of the containers, progress would depend largely on marine conditions, the company said.
As of noon yesterday only 26 containers had been retrieved, and there were reports of others getting in the way of local fishing boats and damaging fishing equipment.
Taiwan International Ports Corp said a salvage team would be sent to the ship today to seal the vents connected to its oil tanks and pump the oil out to avoid any leakage.
The ship reportedly contains 393.4 tonnes of low-sulfur fuel, 98.1 tonnes of light diesel and 0.348 tonnes of lubricating oil.
The Angel, which was anchored about 5km from shore on July 4, began taking on water and listing on Thursday, before the captain decided to abandon ship and ordered all 19 crew into lifeboats.
The ship sank at about midnight the next day.
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