Residents in the northern and northeastern parts of the country should brace for continued heavy rainfall today as Super Typhoon Songda is expected to pass close by Taiwan, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday.
At 6pm yesterday, Jiaosi Township (礁溪), Yilan County, had recorded the highest precipitation, with 221.5mm, followed by Suao (蘇澳) and Wujie (五結) in Yilan, with 166mm and 150mm respectively.
Several coastal areas around the country experienced -extremely heavy rain as defined by the bureau, meaning the accumulated rainfall within the past 24 hours had surpassed 130mm.
PHOTO: AFP
Weather Forecast Center Deputy Director Lin Hsiu-wen (林秀雯) said torrential rain mainly occurred in Yilan County yesterday, adding that residents must be on alert because rain was expected to continue today.
The bureau issued a sea alert for Songda at 2:30am yesterday because it had grown from a typhoon to a super typhoon. The sea alert included the Bashi Channel as well as areas to the nation’s north, northeast and southeast coasts.
At 5:30pm, the center of Songda was 340km off the southeastern coast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻). The system was moving north-northeast at a speed of 23kph to 28kph, with a radius that had expanded to 252km.
Songda will accelerate and move toward Japan’s Miyako Islands after cruising near the nation’s east coast, Lin said, adding that the bureau could lift the sea alert this afternoon.
Meanwhile, the bureau issued a heavy rain alert for residents in Taiwan’s northern, northeastern and eastern regions, as Songda’s circumfluence would continue to affect the weather in those areas.
Lanyu (蘭嶼) could experience strong winds reaching level 10 to level 12 on the Beaufort scale. Other coastal areas could see wind speeds ranging from level 8 to level 10.
Strong waves could also occur along the east coast and the Hengchun Peninsula, the bureau said.
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