Residents of northern Taiwan should brace for heavy rain today and tomorrow as Typhoon In-Fa approaches the northeast, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday.
A land alert for the typhoon would be issued depending on the angle at which it moves north today, the bureau said.
The bureau on Wednesday issued a sea alert for the typhoon, which applies to ships operating off the nation’s northern, northeastern and southeastern coasts.
As of 8:30pm yesterday, In-Fa’s center was 470km southeast of Taipei, moving northwest at 6kph. It was carrying maximum sustained winds of 180kph, and had a radius of 200km.
The typhoon was moving rather slowly due to the lack of a clear guiding airstream, bureau forecaster Hsieh Pei-yun (謝佩芸) said, adding that the CWB forecast that it would be near the southern coast of Japan’s Miyako Island this morning.
While humidity at sea allows the typhoon to develop, In-Fa would maintain its current level of intensity when it approaches Taiwan and slowly turns north today as a Pacific high-pressure system subsides, Hsieh said.
Photo: CNA
“The angle at which it turns as it moves north would be key in determining how the storm would affect the nation,” she said, when asked about the possibility of the bureau issuing a land alert.
“If the typhoon veers to the east after it turns north, the radius of the storm would not reach Taiwan,” Hsieh said.
The typhoon is to accelerate and move away from Taiwan tomorrow, she said.
Intermittent rain began to fall in the northern and northeastern regions yesterday, Hsieh said, adding that extremely heavy rain is forecast for mountainous areas in northern Taiwan today.
Showers are forecast for central, southern and eastern Taiwan.
The bureau issued an extremely heavy rain alert to residents of Taoyuan and Hsinchu County, as well as mountainous areas in Taipei, New Taipei City, Miaoli and Yilan counties.
By 5pm yesterday, Hsinchu County’s Beipu Township (北埔) had the nation’s highest accumulated rainfall of 298.5mm, followed by 222mm at Taoyuan’s Shihmen Reservoir (石門水庫), 220mm in Miaoli County’s Nanjhuang Township (南庄) and 210mm in Yilan County’s Taipingshan (太平山), bureau data showed.
On Sunday, a southwest wind would rise again after the typhoon arrives in China, making the weather in central and southern Taiwan unstable, Hsieh said.
Five domestic flights and two international flights were canceled yesterday due to In-Fa, the Civil Aeronautics Administration said.
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