Typhoon Conson, whose outer edge reached Hengchun Peninsula in the southernmost part of Taiwan early yesterday morning, shifted eastward at noon, posing less of a direct threat to the nation, the Central Weather Bureau reported.
As a result, the bureau lifted land warnings for Typhoon Conson at 5:30pm yesterday, saying the typhoon had left the Taiwan area and was located at sea 190km north of Orchid island (as of 5pm) and was moving at a speed of 30kph in a northeasterly direction.
The bureau had originally issued warnings against gusty winds and torrential rains in the Bashi Channel, the Tungsha (Pratas) Islands and Taiwan's southeastern offshore areas, including Orchid Island and Green Island, until late today.
Bureau officials said that the Bashi Channel and the seas off eastern and northern Taiwan were still under the influence of the fourth typhoon formed in the Pacific this year. However, as of press time, the bureau expected to lift sea warnings yesterday evening at the earliest.
The typhoon has brought ample rain to northeastern Taiwan, the officials said, adding that Tungshan in Ilan had 228mm as of 5:30pm and Lotung 200mm.
Conson, with a radius of 150km and maximum sustained winds of up to 120kph, was centered about 60km south-southeast of Orchid Island off southeast Taiwan at 11am yesterday, moving northeasterly at a speed of 17kph to 15kph, the bureau reported.
With the typhoon's course shifting slightly eastward and its speed slowing, Conson's outer edge is expected to move off Taiwan by nightfall as the typhoon sweeps through the ocean corridor along the east of the country, bureau meteorologists said.
While students and employees on Orchid Island were given the day off due to the typhoon, no major accidents occurred due to the weather. The Typhoon Conson Disaster Response Center in Taitung County recorded no injuries within its jurisdiction except for one minor injury on Orchid Island.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS