Heavy rain and strong winds brought by Tropical Storm Linfa caused damage and injuries in Taiwan yesterday, disrupting about 200 flights nationwide.
In Penghu, three Taoist monks were injured after being hit by falling canvas frames while chanting at a funeral.
About 500 households in Penghu’s Wangan Township (望安) suffered power shortages. Two motorcyclists in Tainan City were slightly injured after being hit by a falling coconut tree.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
Strong winds were also reported in Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties, blowing down billboards and trees.
Continuous rainfall in Taoyuan caused landslides on some sections of Highway No. 7. Fallen rocks and mud were removed by 6pm.
There were no reports of deaths.
Sea transport services to Makung (馬公), Hsiaoliouchiu (小琉球), Matsu, Green Island (綠島), as well as the small three links in Kinmen and Mastu, were canceled.
People heading to outlying islands were advised to check with their airlines or sea transporters to see if services were available.
At 9:20pm, the center of the storm was located 10km south of Kinmen, with the storm’s radius topping 120km.
GRAPHIC: CNA
The storm was proceeding northeast at a speed of 24kph.
The Central Weather Bureau warned people in central, southern and southeastern Taiwan to beware of heavy or torrential rains brought by the southwest air stream that generally comes on the heels of a tropical storm or typhoon.
At press time, the bureau had lifted its land warning for Penghu, but maintained its sea warning for ships passing through the Taiwan Strait and waters off the northern parts of the country.
Chen Yi-liang (陳怡良), a section chief at the bureau, said some areas in southeastern Taiwan had already received more than 20mm of rain per hour.
“We saw from the satellite chart that some clouds have started moving north, meaning there might be regional showers or thundershowers,” Chen said. “The weather conditions nationwide in the next two days will not be stable.”
“If the storm keeps moving on the forecast track, it may lose strength,” he said. “However, we must not lower our guard as the storm could still bring strong winds and heavy rains and cause flash floods. Residents living in low-lying areas must remain vigilant,” Chen said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AGENCIES
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS