A land warning for Tropical Storm Pabuk issued yesterday is likely to be canceled by noon today as the storm sweeps across southern Taiwan and enter the Taiwan Strait, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday.
At 9:15pm yesterday the bureau said Pabuk was 80km east of Hengchun Peninsula (
The bureau forecast that Pabuk would make landfall in Hengchun in the early hours of today.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
By 6pm last night, Ilan County was out of the storm's influence. Hualien and some counties in central and southern Taiwan would be affected by the storm until this morning, the bureau said.
By yesterday, Hualien had received between 250mm and 300mm of rain.
The Taitung County Government said that schools and government offices would be closed today.
The storm's approach disrupted travel plans yesterday, forcing the closure of airports on Lanyu (
Some of this morning's flights on Daily Air to Penghu, Lanyu and Green Island have been canceled. Eva Air's charter flights this morning from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Kaohsiung Airport, as well as those between Kaohsiung and Macau, have been canceled.
Far Eastern Air Transport Corp said that flights from Taipei to Kaohsiung, Tainan and Penghu, and those between Kaohsiung and Hualien this morning would be suspended, while afternoon flights between Taipei and Kinmen might be subject to change.
Boats trips today between Kinmen and China have also been canceled.
Meanwhile, a more forceful tropical storm may be coming hot on Pabuk's heels.
Meteorologists said an active low pressure system, which has not yet been named, is about 540km east of the Philippine island of Luzon.
Additional reporting by CNA
COMBINING FORCES: The 66th Marine Brigade would support the 202nd Military Police Command in its defense of Taipei against ‘decapitation strikes,’ a source said The Marine Corps has deployed more than 100 soldiers and officers of the 66th Marine Brigade to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) as part of an effort to bolster defenses around the capital, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Two weeks ago, a military source said that the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Marine Corps to increase soldier deployments in the Taipei area. The 66th Marine Brigade has been tasked with protecting key areas in Taipei, with the 202nd Military Police Command also continuing to defend the capital. That came after a 2017 decision by the ministry to station
‘INVESTMENT’: Rubio and Arevalo said they discussed the value of democracy, and Rubio thanked the president for Guatemala’s strong diplomatic relationship with Taiwan Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Guatemala City on Wednesday where they signed a deal for Guatemala to accept migrants deported from the US, while Rubio commended Guatemala for its support for Taiwan and said the US would do all it can to facilitate greater Taiwanese investment in Guatemala. Under the migrant agreement announced by Arevalo, the deportees would be returned to their home countries at US expense. It is the second deportation deal that Rubio has reached during a Central America trip that has been focused mainly on immigration. Arevalo said his
‘SOVEREIGN AI’: As of Nov. 19 last year, Taiwan was globally ranked No. 11 for having computing power of 103 petaflops. The governments wants to achieve 1,200 by 2029 The government would intensify efforts to bolster its “Sovereign Artificial Intelligence [AI]” program by setting a goal of elevating the nation’s collective computing power in the public and private sectors to 1,200 peta floating points per second (petaflops) by 2029, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The goal was set to fulfill President William Lai’s (賴清德) vision of turning Taiwan into an “AI island.” Sovereign AI refers to a nation’s capabilities to produce AI using its own infrastructure, data, workforce and business networks. One petaflop allows 1 trillion calculations per second. As of Nov. 19 last year, Taiwan was globally ranked No. 11 for
Israel yesterday said it has begun preparations for the departure of large numbers of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in line with US President Donald Trump’s plan for the territory, while Egypt has launched a diplomatic blitz behind the scenes to try and head off the plan. The Trump administration has already dialed back aspects of the proposal after it was widely rejected internationally, saying the relocation of Palestinians would be temporary. US officials have provided few details about how or when the plan would be carried out. Trump yesterday said that Israel would turn Gaza over to the US after the