A land warning is possible for Typhoon Hinnamnor as early as 2:30am today if the storm remains on its path and continues to expand, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday.
As of 5pm, the typhoon was centered 410km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) on Taiwan’s southern tip and was moving north at 15kph, the bureau said.
Hinnamnor had maximum sustained winds of 162kph, with gusts of up to 198kph, it said.
Photo: CNA
CWB forecaster Lin Ping-yu (林秉煜) said the typhoon has weakened slightly, but its radius is likely to expand.
As of 5:50pm, accumulated rainfall totaled 207.5mm on Taipei’s Yangmingshan (陽明山), 177mm in Beitou District (北投) and 174mm on Yilan County’s Taipingshan (太平山).
Local authorities in northern Taiwan reported property damage from wind and rain in several places, but no injuries.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
School closures were announced for today for New Taipei City’s Pingsi (平溪), Rueifang (瑞芳), Shuangsi (雙溪) and Gongliao (貢寮) districts.
Other districts in New Taipei City, as well as Taipei, Keelung, Hsinchu County, Yilan County and Hualien County announced that criteria were not met for closures.
Taoyuan and Hsinchu City said no closures would be necessary.
In the capital, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp activated its typhoon prevention and response measures for the metropolitan railway system. Under the measures, when wind gusts reach level 10 (about 96kph) or the average wind speed within a 10-minute period reaches level 7 (about 56kph), services along elevated and outdoor lines would be temporarily suspended.
Underground sections would continue to operate, with times adjusted according to crowd conditions, the company said.
To prevent flooding, the MRT operator also put flood gates and water pumps on standby, and was increasing inspections in stations, underground shopping areas, parking lots and train depots, it said.
Flood-prevention facilities throughout the system can handle water levels of up to 110cm, which is based on flood data from the past few years, it said, adding that some stations are equipped with flood gates that activate when water passes through train tunnels near fault zones and river crossings.
However, there was good news for Taiwan’s reservoirs, which had been running low in the absence of any typhoons so far this year.
“Despite concerns, there is a benefit to typhoons for Taiwan, especially at times like now when there is a water shortage,” CWB Director-General Cheng Ming-dean (鄭明典) said.
Seasonal rainfall this summer was 40 percent the average amount measured in the past few years, the second-lowest on record, he said.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said the water level at Keelung’s Sinshan Reservoir (新山水庫) was at 38 percent capacity just a few days ago, and a yellow alert might have been called today, but rainfall brought by Hinnamnor improved the situation.
The typhoon is expected to bring 400mm to 700mm of rainfall, with most rain forecast in mountainous areas north of Miaoli County.
Meanwhile, the Yushan National Park Administration suspended admission to the park until after the typhoon passes.
Those who had been approved to enter would have to reapply after the closure is lifted, it said.
Such closures are standard procedure during typhoons, as strong winds and torrential rain might cause road closures, landslides and damage to trails that can be dangerous for hikers.
“Throughout the typhoon season — which is generally from June to September — we advise hikers and climbers to establish meeting points with their group, and to ensure they have functioning communications and positioning equipment,” it said.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
RSS