Tropical storm Prapiroon swept across the northern part of Taiwan, unleashing torrential rains, while another storm posed a threat, weather forecasters warned yesterday.
"We are keeping a close eye on movement of the two storms, one to the north, the other to the south," a spokesman for the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said.
"But we are still not sure if the storm Maria now lingering in the South China Sea will approach Taiwan after Prapiroon moves away [today]," he said.
PHOTO: LIAO RAY-SHANG, LIBERTY TIMES
The CWB predicted that last night's weakening in the Pacific would further cause Prapiroon to adopt a north-northwesterly tack, effectively reducing the duration and severity of the latest tropical storm to hit Taiwan's north coast.
Though forecasters predicted the storm was unlikely to cause as much damage as Super Typhoon Bilis, news of the storm caused schools to close, put the military on rescue alert and prompted official warnings for people to stay indoors after 8pm.
However, weathermen fear Maria could be sucked into the island after the edge of Prapiroon cuts across the northern part of Taiwan.
Prapiroon's center was about 320km east of Taipei at 7pm. With a radius of 250km, the storm was moving northwest at 19kph.
The bureau said the storm's winds averaged 100kph with gusts as high as 130kph.
The center of tropical storm Prapiroon is forecast to move to 360km north of Taipei at 5pm today.
The bureau urged residents in northern Taiwan and ships sailing off the island to be vigilant.
Maria was about 60km southwest of Hengchun, the most southern tip of Taiwan, at 2pm yesterday.
Despite being pounded by heavy rains yesterday afternoon, the Taipei city government's Bureau of Public Works (BPW) said no irregularities in water levels had been reported for any of the municipality's rivers.
At 6pm Monday the BPW closed down 25 of the city's 29 floodgates, and reported yesterday afternoon that the remaining four had been closed as well.
As for the 19 areas of the city classified as low-lying land, no incidences of flooding had been reported, though the BPW and borough wardens were closely monitoring conditions, fully prepared to deploy evacuation personnel at the first appearance of flooding.
Perhaps the most serious incident related to tropical storm Prapiroon so far has been mudslides occurring in the hilly area behind Wuhsing Street.
Despite putting a scare into residents, however, no serious injuries were reported. Authorities acted quickly to close off the scene and commence cleanup operations.
The storm comes just one week after Super Typhoon Bilis made landfall.
Bilis' powerful winds and torrential rains left 14 people dead -- including seven women and one child buried by mudslides -- and 108 people injured, 14 seriously.
Seven people were reported as missing.
Agriculture was hit hard by Bilis, suffering more than NT$4 billion damage as the storm ripped through the island.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
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
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft