The circumfluence of Tropical Storm Meari could bring heavy to torrential rain to the east coast, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday, though it said it was unlikely to issue a land warning for the storm.
The bureau issued a sea alert for Meari at 11:30pm on Thursday. As of 5:30pm yesterday, the center of the storm was 400km off the east coast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Pintung County, and it was moving north at 28kph.
Bureau forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said the sea alert applied to vessels operating in the Bashi Channel, as well as off the nation’s southeastern, northeastern and northern coasts.
GRAPHIC: TT
She said residents along the east coast and the Hengchun Peninsula had already observed higher waves yesterday, which in some areas reached 4m.
Although the bureau said the storm was unlikely to make landfall, Wu said the storm’s circumfluence would continue to affect the nation today.
Wu said the bureau had issued alerts as extremely heavy rain is expected in northeastern and northern areas.
People in mountainous areas in central and southern parts of the nation should also prepare for the possibility of heavy precipitation, she said.
Rain in northern and northeastern parts of the country was expected to ease this afternoon as the storm continues to move further away from the nation.
Central and southern regions should remain on alert tomorrow as the southwest monsoon, which normally comes in the wake of a storm, could bring heavy rain to those areas, the bureau said.
As the storm approached, the Central Disaster Emergency Operations Center was activated at its second response level at 8am yesterday.
Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) demanded that officials in agencies under the Executive Yuan in charge of typhoon preparedness get ready, monitor the movement of Meari and stay in close contact with local governments.
Responsible agencies should draw up preventive measures to mitigate possible disasters and rescue plans in cases of emergency, the center said in a press release.
Meanwhile, the downward air current brought by the storm’s circumfluence caused temperatures on the outlying islands of Kinmen to rise to 38.4?C yesterday afternoon, the highest temperature ever recorded at the observation station.
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