Heavy rain brought by Tropical Storm Lupit’s outer reaches yesterday flooded schools and roads in Yilan City, which had only recently recovered from damage caused by Typhoon Parma last week.
Lupit also generated strong winds in Taitung County, forcing Lanyu (蘭嶼), or Orchid Island, to close schools and offices yesterday.
About 300 tourists on Green Island (綠島) were asked to leave as well because of the inclement weather.
Heavy rain began pouring down in northern and northeastern regions on Thursday night.
Central Weather Bureau (CWB) figures showed that accumulated rainfall between 12am and 12pm yesterday had come close to 400mm in Shuangsi Township (雙溪), Taipei County.
Meanwhile, rainfall in Dongshan Township (冬山), Yilan County, topped 300mm.
Lupit befuddled meteorologists in the US, Japan, China and Taiwan because many of them originally predicted it would move southwest to the South China Sea.
The CWB adjusted its projected path on Wednesday because high air pressure over the Pacific Ocean had weakened its force.
The bureau then forecast that Lupit would turn and move north instead.
The bureau yesterday advised residents of northern and northeastern regions to stay on guard for heavy rainfall despite the fact the bureau’s forecast showed the storm would slowly move away from the nation.
The bureau said Lupit had weakened to a tropical storm by 2pm yesterday.
At press time, its center was located 420km off the southeast coast of Eluanbi (鵝鑾鼻).
It was moving northeasterly at 6kph.
Maximum wind speeds were 108kph.
The bureau has yet to decide when it will issue a sea alert for Lupit, adding that the chances it would do so were low.
The bureau also estimated that rain would ease by tomorrow.
Meanwhile, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday presided over a typhoon preparation meeting at the Presidential Office, demanding that government agencies adopt the “successful” disaster prevention model used during Typhoon Parma.
The military deployed troops to Yilan County and evacuated 500 residents when Parma hit Taiwan last week.
“I expect the Yilan Model to be adopted successfully during other typhoons,” Ma said.
Ma also asked Vice Premier Eric Chu (朱立倫) to monitor the situation, and reiterated that the central government would assist local governments in disaster relief efforts.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MO YAN-CHIH
RSS