The unpredictable route of Typhoon Melor, which skimmed over the southern tip of Taiwan yesterday before moving northwards along the east coast, resulted in one death and left three people missing. Serious losses were also suffered in the agricultural sector.
A middle-aged cleaner, Hsu Jih-hung (許日虹), who worked for the Seaview Resort (海景大飯店) in Kenting, drowned in the hotel's basement. The basement was flooded when the level of the river which flows by the resort rose suddenly.
Three visitors to Taitung County were flushed away by the Taimali River (太麻里溪) in Chinfeng Township (金峰鄉) on Sunday. They were still missing yesterday.
Melor buffeted southern Taiwan on Sunday and early yesterday morning. Rainfall exceeding 500mm was measured in many townships in Pingtung County, including Kenting and Mutan.
According to the Central Wea-ther Bureau, residents in the north should remain alert to torrential rain today.
The Council of Agriculture yesterday estimated that damage to 397 hectares of arable land in the south and east might lead to losses of NT$15.8 million. Farmers are encouraged to rush in the harvest of ripe crops over the following days, officials said.
Farmers yesterday said their losses could be partly attributed to the inaccuracy of weather forecasting about Typhoon Melor. Legislators also criticized the bureau's performance. They demanded a comprehensive review report within two weeks.
On Sunday, the Central Weather Bureau predicted that Melor would move to the west, mostly affecting the south of Taiwan. But Melor suddenly changed its direction, moving northwards.
Officials said yesterday that precisely predicting the route of a typhoon in autumn was not easy, because the movement is influenced by the high pressure weather system in China. According to their records, the probability of a typhoon forming in November was only 9.4 percent.
Yeh Tien-chiang (
"On Sunday afternoon, we made a correction in our predicted route for Typhoon Melor," Yeh said.
Yeh said the bureau's error in predicting the route was 167km, which is close to the average error of 160km within 24 hours.
The bureau lifted its land warning yesterday afternoon, but said although Melor might weaken to a tropical low pressure storm, ships sailing along the northern, northeastern and southeastern coast should remain alert to heavy rains.
"Residents of mountainous areas in northern Taiwan should be especially aware of the possibility of torrential rains," said Daniel Wu (吳德榮), deputy director of the bureau's weather forecasting center.
Wu said the heavy rains in the north and the northeast could be attributed to air currents induced by the passage of the typhoon.
The Taipei County Government yesterday tested 44 pumping stations to prepare for possible floods.
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