The Central Weather Bureau warned yesterday that people living in Taiwan's mountainous areas should guard against heavy rainfall brought by Typhoon Chanchu.
The bureau said that Chanchu has developed from a tropical storm into a medium typhoon.
The typhoon was moving west-northwesterly at 14km per hour, with its speed expected to slow to 10km per hour.
Bureau officials forecast that by early last night, the eye of Typhoon Chanchu would be located about 570km west of Manila.
The officials warned ships operating in the vicinity to take extra precautions.
The storm will turn more to the north-northeast and develop into a strong Category III typhoon as it travels through the South China Sea.
It will maintain this strength for the next few days and is expected to develop into a Category IV typhoon on Wednesday.
The typhoon is not expected to make its next landfall for the next several days, but significant showers and thunderstorms will spread over Taiwan and the Philippines.
Portions of the southeast Chinese coast will also see some showers.
Meanwhile, the Philippines began cleaning up yesterday after Tropical Storm Chanchu claimed 32 lives, left large parts of the country underwater and forced thousands to flee their homes.
By midday yesterday Chanchu was 430km from the Philippines in the South China Sea, charting a west-southwesterly course and packing winds of up to 140kph, according to the weather bureau.
Rain and strong winds continued to lash parts of southern Luzon and the central Visayas, which bore the brunt of the storm.
According to the National Disaster Coordinating Council 32 people died, eight are missing and 13 were injured.
More than 42,000 people were forced to evacuate from their homes as the storm triggered landslides and widespread flooding in the southern Tagalog, Bicol, Central Visayas and Eastern Visayas regions.
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