Tropical Storm Nesat is to make landfall in Taitung tomorrow or Sunday, and a sea alert would be issued in the morning at the earliest, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday.
The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 90kph and gusts of up to 118kph at 2pm yesterday as it moved on a northwesterly bearing, bureau data showed.
Rainfall is expected throughout the weekend and people should prepare for severe weather, it said.
The agency has been preparing for emergency flooding by coordinating with its sub-divisions, Water Resources Agency Director-General Lai Chien-hsin (賴建信) said.
Levees and dams have been inspected and some floodgates have been opened as a precaution, including at the Liyutan Reservoir (鯉魚潭水庫), which was full, he said.
The nation’s 1,015 mobile heavy-duty pumps have been deployed at 950 locations in accordance with protocols signed by local governments to share the equipment in emergencies, Lai said.
The bureau has placed its 1,603 flood-response volunteers on call and 8,800 companies are assisting in monitoring the situation, he said.
Water management authorities in special municipalities and counties have been instructed to prepare for flooding, especially at locations where heavy rains caused problems last month, he said.
Ferry services between Taitung and Green Island (綠島) are to be suspended from 11:30am today until Sunday, while services between Taitung and Orchid Island (蘭嶼, Lanyu) were suspended yesterday afternoon, operators said.
The New Taipei City Department of Tourism and Travel announced the rescheduling of the international rock music festival in Gongliao District (貢寮), originally scheduled from today to Sunday.
The Hsinchu Cultural Affairs Bureau announced the cancelation of an open-air theater event and cultural-and-creative market fair that were to take place over the weekend.
This story has been amended since it was first published to correct the date of Nesat's predicted landfall.
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