Residents of south and southeastern Taiwan, Penghu and Kinmen were told yesterday to prepare for heavy rain caused by the approach of Typhoon Kammuri.
The Central Weather Bureau said that tropical storm Kammuri intensified into a low-strength typhoon yesterday morning. It had moved to a position 170km south-southeast of Hong Kong by yesterday evening. It was traveling at around 9kph, the bureau said, and would be around 100km northeast of Hong Kong by 2pm today.
The bureau forecast that the typhoon would probably not strike Taiwan directly, but pass by Hong Kong and Macau before making landfall in Guangdong Province.
Nevertheless, officials at the bureau warned that the air surrounding the typhoon would bring heavy rainfall to Taiwan today.
"Although it [Typhoon Kammuri] will not strike Taiwan directly, people should be prepared for heavy rainfall and stay away from areas susceptible to landslides and mudslides triggered by heavy rain," Hsaio Chia-sen (
Kammuri, the 12th typhoon of the year, has already brought heavy rainfall to Taitung and Pingtung counties.
About 130mm of rain fell in Pingtung County's Mutan (
Meanwhile, heavy rainfall in eastern Taiwan yesterday resulted in serious landslide on the Da-Ching-Shui (
According to a local media report, 2,000m3 of fallen rocks and mud destroyed nearly 30m of the highway's 52m-long Ming Tunnel (
The Highway Bureau said it had begun to clear the road and that it might be open to one-way traffic tomorrow afternoon.
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