The Central Weather Bureau was scheduled to issue a sea alert for Typhoon Megi as of press time last night, as the storm gained power on its way toward eastern and southern Taiwan.
By 8pm yesterday, the center of the typhoon was 920km east-southeast of Taiwan proper, moving west-northwest at 16kph, packing winds up to 137kph.
The radius of the storm was 200km, the bureau said.
The sea alert was scheduled to issued at 11:30pm last night. Because of the approaching typhoon, the Maritime and Port Bureau said that several shipping route services would be canceled today, tomorrow and Wednesday.
A majority of the canceled shipping services are in eastern and southern Taiwan, including those between Taitung’s Fugang Fishing Port and Green Island (綠島); between Houbi Lake (後壁湖) in Pingtung County’s Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) and Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼); and between Donggang (東港) in Pintung County and Siaoliouciou Island (小琉球).
Other canceled services are between Keelung and Matsu, Kaohsiung and Penghu, Taipei and Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province and Matsu’s Nangan (南竿) and Dongyin (東引島) islets.
Based on the bureau’s projected path, Megi is likely to make landfall in the nation’s southeast.
It is predicted to move across the nation and continue toward China, according to the bureau’s analysis.
To better understand the typhoon’s structure, the bureau said it will today activate the Dropsonde Observation for Typhoon Surveillance near the Taiwan Region project.
The jet used in the project is to climb to an altitude of about 13km and conduct observations in key spots along the path of the typhoon’s movement, the bureau said, adding that the data would be transmitted back to the bureau via satellite.
The bureau said the information collected through the project can reduce the margin of error in its 72-hour forecast for the typhoon’s path by about 6.5 percent.
Megi is a rare example of predictions provided by different weather forecast agencies around the world being consistent with one another, bureau Director-General Cheng Ming-dean (鄭明典) said on Facebook.
Other agencies have made only minor adjustments to their predictions of how the typhoon would move over the next few days, he wrote.
Former bureau director-general Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said it is still too early to say the exact location where the typhoon would make landfall.
Wu said the interaction between the typhoon and Taiwan’s terrain would also skew the typhoon’s path before its eye makes landfall, making its movement difficult to predict.
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
DEFENSE: The first set of three NASAMS that were previously purchased is expected to be delivered by the end of this year and deployed near the capital, sources said Taiwan plans to procure 28 more sets of M-142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as nine additional sets of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), military sources said yesterday. Taiwan had previously purchased 29 HIMARS launchers from the US and received the first 11 last year. Once the planned purchases are completed and delivered, Taiwan would have 57 sets of HIMARS. The army has also increased the number of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) purchased from 64 to 84, the sources added. Each HIMARS launch pod can carry six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, capable of
CHINA’s BULLYING: The former British prime minister said that he believes ‘Taiwan can and will’ protect its freedom and democracy, as its people are lovers of liberty Former British prime minister Boris Johnson yesterday said Western nations should have the courage to stand with and deepen their economic partnerships with Taiwan in the face of China’s intensified pressure. He made the remarks at the ninth Ketagalan Forum: 2025 Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prospect Foundation in Taipei. Johnson, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time, said he had seen Taiwan’s coastline on a screen on his indoor bicycle, but wanted to learn more about the nation, including its artificial intelligence (AI) development, the key technology of the 21st century. Calling himself an
South Korea yesterday said that it was removing loudspeakers used to blare K-pop and news reports to North Korea, as the new administration in Seoul tries to ease tensions with its bellicose neighbor. The nations, still technically at war, had already halted propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone, Seoul’s military said in June after the election of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung. It said in June that Pyongyang stopped transmitting bizarre, unsettling noises along the border that had become a major nuisance for South Korean residents, a day after South Korea’s loudspeakers fell silent. “Starting today, the military has begun removing the loudspeakers,”
RSS