Although Typhoon Lupit has been weakened by cold air from the north, torrential rains are expected to lash the country from tomorrow, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday.
Meanwhile, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said yesterday that military personnel would be deployed to disaster-prone areas before the storm arrives.
Lupit became a super typhoon on Monday, but was downgraded to a typhoon yesterday.
Although it seems unlikely that the typhoon would hit Taiwan directly, the bureau said that the joint forces of the northeastern monsoon and the typhoon’s circumfluence are expected to bring heavy rain to northern, northeastern and southern Taiwan tomorrow and Friday.
The bureau said that people in Hualien and Ilan counties should prepare for rainfall of up to 500mm per day.
Although the bureau originally estimated that it would start raining today and that the rain could begin to ease by Sunday, its latest calculations showed that the typhoon would sweep through the northern part of Luzon Island in the Philippines, which is expected to reduce the force of Lupit and further slow its pace. The threat of heavy rain might consequently not be lifted until after Sunday, the bureau said.
As of 5:30pm yesterday, the center of Lupit was located 1,140m northeast of Manila. It was moving southwest at 16kph. The maximum wind speed was measured at 162kph.
Because the typhoon is expected to bring torrential rains to the northern half of Taiwan, Wu said military personnel would be sent to vulnerable areas to get a better understanding of the situation and help residents stay calm.
The premier was responding to questions at the Legislative Yuan.
He added that the Central Weather Bureau would help the Philippines set up a weather station on Luzon to improve data on the direction of typhoons in the region and enhance forecasts of storm paths.
RSS