Typhoon Lekima is spinning towards Taiwan as Taipei struggles to recuperate in the aftermath of Typhoon Nari that battered the country just a week ago.
At 7:10pm yesterday, Lekima was located about 170km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鸞鼻), Taiwan's southernmost tip, and was heading northwest towards the country at 5kmph.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
By 5:00pm tomorrow, the typhoon is estimated being just 70km east of Oluanpi.
Lekima is packing sustained winds of 130kph and gusts of 165kph.
Lekima's slow pace indicated its impact on Taiwan could last for days as it picks up more water at sea, much like Nari. Therefore, the typhoon is expected to bring torrential rainfalls and has the potential to renew flooding throughout the country, according to the Central Weather Bureau.
Taiwan's outlying islands and east coast have been warned of heavy rains.
Taipei, Kaohsiung and Tainan may also get torrential rainfalls, according to the bureau.
Flooding following Nari's downpours on Sept. 17 and Sept. 18 left 94 people dead and 10 missing.
The typhoon also caused substantial damage to the nation's transportation systems, housing and office buildings.
The latest estimates put agricultural losses from Nari at NT$3.17 billion (US$92 million), an official at the Council of Agriculture said.
Taiwanese business owners piled sandbags in front of their buildings and along riverbanks as the Central Weather Bureau warned of more flooding and landslides in the wake of Nari.
An entertainment club chain, Pacific International Business Club, had its employees sandbag one branch located in the northern part of Taipei. The club's headquarters, located underground, was engulfed by water and mud last week.
"We are now holding on to our last remaining club with sandbags," club manager Wu Mei-hui said.
"We are hoping the government can stop the incoming typhoon from producing another flood, but we know it's beyond the government's control."
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique