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
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday expressed “grave concerns” after Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) reiterated the city-state’s opposition to “Taiwanese independence” during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強). In Singapore on Saturday, Wong and Li discussed cross-strait developments, the Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “Prime Minister Wong reiterated that Singapore has a clear and consistent ‘one China’ policy and is opposed to Taiwan independence,” it said. MOFA responded that it is an objective fact and a common understanding shared by many that the Republic of China (ROC) is an independent, sovereign nation, with world-leading
Temperatures in northern Taiwan are forecast to reach as high as 30°C today, as an ongoing northeasterly seasonal wind system weakens, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said yesterday that with the seasonal wind system weakening, warmer easterly winds would boost the temperature today. Daytime temperatures in northern Taiwan and Yilan County are expected to range from 28°C to 30°C today, up about 3°C from yesterday, Tseng said. According to the CWA, temperature highs in central and southern Taiwan could stay stable. However, the weather is expected to turn cooler starting tonight as the northeasterly wind system strengthens again
The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) has been investigating nine shell companies working with Prince Holding Group, and the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office is seeking further prosecution of alleged criminals, a source said yesterday. The nine companies and three Taiwanese nationals were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Oct. 14 as Specially Designated Nationals as a result of a US federal court indictment. Prince Holding founder Chen Zhi (陳志) has been charged with fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding’s suspected forced-labor camps in Cambodia, the indictment says. Intelligence shared between Taiwan,
RSS