The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) yesterday said that it could issue sea and land alerts for Typhoon Soudelor tomorrow if it increases in strength, adding that it does not rule out the typhoon making landfall.
As of 2pm yesterday, the center of the typhoon was 1,870km southeast of Taipei. It was moving northwest at 20kph. The radius of the storm had reached 250km.
The bureau forecast that Soudelor would move toward the nation’s northern and northeastern regions. It said those regions would see increased chances of showers due to the influence of the typhoon’s circumfluence.
Photo: AFP
As the typhoon approaches, the chances of heavy to extremely heavy rainfall would increase nationwide, the bureau said.
CWB weather forecast center director Cheng Ming-dean (鄭明典) said that the nation would be directly under the influence of Soudelor on Friday and Saturday, adding that the tail of the typhoon could still affect the nation’s weather on Sunday.
He said that people should be alert to massive rainfall and strong winds brought by the typhoon.
The approach of Soudelor might remind some people of Typhoon Morakot in 2009, which barreled into Taiwan on Aug. 8, when the nation celebrates Father’s Day.
The torrential rainfall brought by Morakot caused the most severe flooding in the nation since 1959, killing 681 people, 474 of them in Siaolin Village (小林) in then-Kaohsiung County, who were buried alive under a mudslide.
Historical records compiled by WeatherRisk showed that the bureau has issued sea alerts for 28 tropical storms or typhoons in the month of August, and 17 of them have hit the nation.
Among those typhoons, 11 had both sea and land alerts issued around the time of Father’s Day.
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer began talks with high-ranking Chinese officials in Switzerland yesterday aiming to de-escalate a dispute that threatens to cut off trade between the world’s two biggest economies and damage the global economy. The US delegation has begun meetings in Geneva with a Chinese delegation led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰), Xinhua News Agency said. Diplomats from both sides also confirmed that the talks have begun, but spoke anonymously and the exact location of the talks was not made public. Prospects for a major breakthrough appear dim, but there is
The number of births in Taiwan fell to an all-time monthly low last month, while the population declined for the 16th consecutive month, Ministry of the Interior data released on Friday showed. The number of newborns totaled 8,684, which is 704 births fewer than in March and the lowest monthly figure on record, the ministry said. That is equivalent to roughly one baby born every five minutes and an annual crude birthrate of 4.52 per 1,000 people, the ministry added. Meanwhile, 17,205 deaths were recorded, resulting in a natural population decrease of 8,521, the data showed. More people are also leaving Taiwan, with net
RSS