Heavy rain brought by Tropical Storm Lupit’s outer reaches yesterday flooded schools and roads in Yilan City, which had only recently recovered from damage caused by Typhoon Parma last week.
Lupit also generated strong winds in Taitung County, forcing Lanyu (蘭嶼), or Orchid Island, to close schools and offices yesterday.
About 300 tourists on Green Island (綠島) were asked to leave as well because of the inclement weather.
PHOTO: CNA
Heavy rain began pouring down in northern and northeastern regions on Thursday night.
Central Weather Bureau (CWB) figures showed that accumulated rainfall between 12am and 12pm yesterday had come close to 400mm in Shuangsi Township (雙溪), Taipei County.
Meanwhile, rainfall in Dongshan Township (冬山), Yilan County, topped 300mm.
Lupit befuddled meteorologists in the US, Japan, China and Taiwan because many of them originally predicted it would move southwest to the South China Sea.
The CWB adjusted its projected path on Wednesday because high air pressure over the Pacific Ocean had weakened its force.
The bureau then forecast that Lupit would turn and move north instead.
The bureau yesterday advised residents of northern and northeastern regions to stay on guard for heavy rainfall despite the fact the bureau’s forecast showed the storm would slowly move away from the nation.
The bureau said Lupit had weakened to a tropical storm by 2pm yesterday.
At press time, its center was located 420km off the southeast coast of Eluanbi (鵝鑾鼻).
It was moving northeasterly at 6kph.
Maximum wind speeds were 108kph.
The bureau has yet to decide when it will issue a sea alert for Lupit, adding that the chances it would do so were low.
The bureau also estimated that rain would ease by tomorrow.
Meanwhile, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday presided over a typhoon preparation meeting at the Presidential Office, demanding that government agencies adopt the “successful” disaster prevention model used during Typhoon Parma.
The military deployed troops to Yilan County and evacuated 500 residents when Parma hit Taiwan last week.
“I expect the Yilan Model to be adopted successfully during other typhoons,” Ma said.
Ma also asked Vice Premier Eric Chu (朱立倫) to monitor the situation, and reiterated that the central government would assist local governments in disaster relief efforts.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MO YAN-CHIH
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS